• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.831-846
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• 2015

Magneto-Rheological (MR) dampers are being used increasingly because of their adaptability to control algorithms and reliability of passive systems. In this paper, an extensive investigation on performance of MR dampers in semi-active and passive modes has been carried out. It is observed that the overall energy dissipation by MR dampers in passive-on modes is higher than that in semi-active modes for most of the competitive semi-active controllers. Based on the energy dissipation pattern, a novel semi-active controller, termed as "Simple Passive Semi-Active Controller", has been proposed for MR dampers. This controller can be emulated by a simple passive hardware proposed in this paper. The proposed concept of controller "hardware emulation" is innovative and can also be implemented for other semi-active devices for control algorithms of certain form. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed controller has been investigated extensively through numerical simulations. It has been demonstrated that the proposed controller is competitive to or more effective than other widely used / investigated semi-active controllers.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.59-81
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• 2012

A ductility inverse-mapping method for SDOF systems including passive dampers is proposed which enables one to find the maximum acceleration of ground motion for the prescribed maximum response deformation. In the conventional capacity spectrum method, the maximum response deformation is computed through iterative procedures for the prescribed maximum acceleration of ground motion. This is because the equivalent linear model for response evaluation is described in terms of unknown maximum deformation. While successive calculations are needed, no numerically unstable iterative procedure is required in the proposed method. This ductility inverse-mapping method is applied to an SDOF model of bilinear hysteresis. The SDOF models without and with passive dampers (viscous, viscoelastic and hysteretic dampers) are taken into account to investigate the effectiveness of passive dampers for seismic retrofitting of building structures. Since the maximum response deformation is the principal parameter and specified sequentially, the proposed ductility inverse-mapping method is suitable for the implementation of the performance-based design.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.377-386
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• 2000

Hybrid mass dampers consist of passive tuned mass dampers and active mass dampers. They have the advantage that passive tuned mass dampers are still operated even when active mass dampers are stopped by excessive disturbances or power failure. This paper begins first with the comparative analysis of tuned mass dampers, hybrid mass dampers, and active mass dampers. Next more detailed study is carried out on the hybrid mass dampers: cascade hybrid mass dampers (CHMD) and active tuned mass dampers (ATMD). CHMD is regarded as more reasonable device because of its lighter active mass than ATMD's. However CHMD can not neglect stroke saturation problem caused by the length limitation of active damper mass. We compensate the saturation problem with nonlinear restoring force. The restoring force is calculated based on the states and phases of active mass dampers and added to the control force. It is shown that the presented compensation method prevents CHMD from saturation behavior without apparent changes of control force and responses compared to those in case of not considering the saturation problem.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.563-576
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• 2015

Over the past few decades, seismic retrofitting of structural systems has been significantly improved by the adoption of various methods such as FRP composite wraps, base isolation systems, and passive/active damper control systems. In parallel with this trend, probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) for structural and nonstructural components has become necessary for risk mitigation and the achievement of reliable designs in performance-based earthquake engineering. The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect on piping fragility at T-joints due to seismic retrofitting of structural systems with passive energy-dissipation devices (i.e., linear viscous dampers). Three mid-rise building types were considered: without any seismic retrofitting; with distributed damper systems; with optimal placement of dampers. The results showed that the probability of piping system failure was considerably reduced in a Multi Degree of Freedom (MDOF) building retrofitted with optimal passive damper systems at lower floor levels. This effect of damper systems on piping fragility became insignificant as the floor level increased.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 2002

Semi-active control devices have received significant attention in recent Years because they offer the adaptability of active-control devices without requiring the associated large power sources. Magnetorheological(MR) dampers are semiactive control devices that use MR fluids to produce controllable dampers. This paper applies sliding mode control method using target variation rate of Lyapunov function for the control of structures by use of MR dampers. The three-story building model under earthquake excitation is analyzed by installing a MR damper in the first-story. The performance of semi-active controllers designed by clipped-optimal algorithm and modified sliding mode control algorithm is compared to the performance of passive-type MR dampers. The results indicate that semi-active controllers achieve a greater reduction of responses than passive-type system and especially the controller by modified sliding mode control method shows a good applicability in the view of response control and control force.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1001-1025
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• 2016

Building structures generally have inherent low damping capability and hence are vulnerable to seismic excitations. Control devices therefore play a useful role in providing safety to building structures subject to seismic events. In recent years semi-active dampers have gained considerable attention as structural control devices in the building construction industry. Magneto-rheological (MR) damper, a type of semi-active damper has proven to be effective in seismic mitigation of building structures. MR dampers contain a controllable MR fluid whose rheological properties vary rapidly with the applied magnetic field. Although some research has been carried out on the use of MR dampers in building structures, optimal design of MR damper and combined use of MR and passive dampers for real scale buildings has hardly been investigated. This paper investigates the use of MR dampers and incorporating MR-passive damper combinations in building structures in order to achieve acceptable levels of seismic performance. In order to do so, it first develops the MR damper model by integrating control algorithms commonly used in MR damper modelling. The developed MR damper is then integrated in to the seismically excited structure as a time domain function. Linear and nonlinear structure models are evaluated in real time scenarios. Analyses are conducted to investigate the influence of location and number of devices on the seismic performance of the building structure. The findings of this paper provide information towards the design and construction of earthquake safe buildings with optimally employed MR dampers and MR-passive damper combinations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2019

One of the most effective countermeasures for mitigating cable vibration is to install mechanical dampers near the anchorage of the cable. Most of the dampers used in the field are so-called passive dampers where their parameters cannot be changed once designed. The parameters of passive dampers are usually determined based on the optimal damper force obtained from the universal design curve for linear dampers, which will provide a maximum additional damping for the cable. As the optimal damper force is chosen based on a predetermined principal vibration mode, passive dampers will be most effective if cable undergoes single-mode vibration where the vibration mode is the same as the principal mode used in the design. However, in the actual engineering practice, multi-mode vibrations are often observed for cables. Therefore, it is desirable to have dampers that can suppress different modes of cable vibrations simultaneously. In this paper, MR dampers are proposed for controlling multi-mode cable vibrations, because of its ability to change parameters and its adaptability of active control without inquiring large power resources. Although the highly nonlinear feature of the MR material leads to a relatively complex representation of its mathematical model, effective control strategies can still be derived for suppressing multi-mode cable vibrations based on nonlinear modelling, as proposed in this paper. Firstly, the nonlinear Bouc-wen model is employed to accurately portray the salient characteristics of the MR damper. Then, the desired optimal damper force is determined from the universal design curve of friction dampers. Finally, the input voltage (current) of MR damper corresponding to the desired optimal damper force is calculated from the nonlinear Bouc-wen model of the damper using a piecewise linear interpolation scheme. Numerical simulations are carried out to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm for mitigating multi-mode cable vibrations induced by different external excitations.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.191-194
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• 1997

Passive, semi-active and active dampers have been used to dissipate energy in mechanical systems. Semi-active dampers have higher performance than passive dampers and require lower power to operate than active dampers. Its damping characteristics can be changed appropriately for varying conditions. In this paper, we developed a semi-active damper based on Magnetorheological(MR) fluid. MR fluid has a variable damping characteristics proportional for the magnetic field intensity. It has several advantages such as high strength, low viscosity, robustness in impurities and wide temperature range of operational stability. We designed a constrained rotary MR damper base on valve mode which can dissipate more energy per unit volume. The system with Bingham characteristics is obtained and proved by the experiment.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.495-514
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• 2014

The performance of passive control system for the seismic protection of a multi-tower cable-stayed bridge with the application of partially longitudinal constraint system is investigated. The seismic responses of the Jiashao Bridge, a six-tower cable-stayed bridge using the partially longitudinal constraint system are studied under real earthquake ground motions. The effects of the passive control devices including the viscous fluid dampers and elastic cables on the seismic responses of the bridge are examined by taking different values of parameters of the devices. Further, the optimization design principle of passive control system using viscous fluid dampers is presented to determine the optimized parameters of the viscous fluid dampers. The results of the investigations show that the control objective of the multi-tower cable-stayed bridge with the partially longitudinal constraint system is to reduce the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally restricted with the bridge deck. The viscous fluid dampers are found to be more effective than elastic cables in controlling the seismic responses. The optimized parameters for the viscous fluid dampers are determined following the principle that the peak displacement at the end of bridge deck reaches to the maximum value, which can yield maximum reductions in the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally restricted with the bridge deck, with slight increases in the base shears and moments of bridge towers longitudinally unrestricted with the bridge deck.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.493-515
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• 2008

Semi-active control systems have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years because these systems can operate on battery power alone, proving advantageous during seismic events when the main power source of the structure may likely fail. The behavior of semi-active devices is often highly non-linear and requires suitable and efficient control algorithm. This paper presents the comparative study and performance of variable semi-active friction dampers by using recently proposed predictive control law with direct output feedback. In this control law, the variable slip force of semi-active variable friction damper is kept slightly lower than the critical friction force, which allows the damper to remain in the slip state during an earthquake, resulting in improved energy dissipation capability. This control algorithm is able to produce a continuous and smooth slip forces for a variable friction damper. The numerical examples include a structure controlled with multiple variable semi-active friction dampers and with multiple passive friction dampers. A parameter, gain multiplier defined as the ratio of damper force to critical damper control force, is investigated under four different real earthquake ground motions, which plays an important role in the present control algorithm of the damper. The numerically evaluated optimum parametric value is considered for the analysis of the structure with dampers. The numerical results of the variable friction dampers show better performance over the passive dampers in reducing the seismic response of structures.