• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.81-89
• /
• 2015

Damped outrigger systems have been proposed as a novel energy dissipation system to protect tall buildings from severe earthquakes and strong wind loads. In this study, semi-active damping devices such as magnetorheological (MR) dampers instead of passive dampers are installed vertically between the outrigger and perimeter columns to achieve large and adaptable energy dissipation. Control performance of semi-active outrigger damper system mainly depends on the control algorithm. Fuzzy logic control algorithm was used to generate command voltage sent to MR damper. Genetic algorithm was used to optimize the fuzzy logic controller. An artificial earthquake load was generated for numerical simulation. A simplified numerical model of damped outrigger system was developed. Based on numerical analyses, it has been shown that the semi-active damped outrigger system can effectively reduce both displacement and acceleration responses of the tall building in comparison with a passive outrigger damper system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.305-312
• /
• 2006

In the case of hospital buildings, where seismic design requirements are very high, existing structuresand especially those attacked by past earthquakes, appear, often, unable to fulfil the necessary safety prerequisites. In this paper, the retrofitting of hospital buildings is investigated, using alternative methods of repair and strengthening. Analysis of an existing hospital building in Patras, Greece, is performed. The load-bearing system is a reinforced concrete system. Two solutions are proposed: strengthening using concrete jackets around column and beam elements and application of viscoelastic dampers for the increase of the stability of the structure. Adequate finite element models are constructed for each case and conclusions are drawn on the efficiency of each rehabilitation method.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.233-247
• /
• 2007

The insertion of steel braces has become a common technique to limit the deformability of steel framed buildings subjected to wind loads. However, when this technique is inadequate to keep floor accelerations within acceptable levels of human comfort, dampers placed in series with the steel braces can be adopted. To check the effectiveness of braces equipped with viscoelastic (VEDs) or friction dampers (FRDs), a numerical investigation is carried out focusing attention on a three-bay fifteen-storey steel framed building with K-braces. More precisely, three alternative structural solutions are examined for the purpose of controlling wind-induced vibrations: the insertion of additional diagonal braces; the insertion of additional diagonal braces equipped with dampers; the insertion of both additional diagonal braces and dampers supported by the existing K-braces. Additional braces and dampers are designed according to a simplified procedure based on a proportional stiffness criterion. A dynamic analysis is carried out in the time domain using a step-by-step initial-stress-like iterative procedure. Along-wind loads are considered at each storey assuming the time histories of the wind velocity, for a return period $T_r=5$ years, according to an equivalent wind spectrum technique. The behaviour of the structural members, except dampers, is assumed linear elastic. A VED and an FRD are idealized by a six-element generalized model and a bilinear (rigid-plastic) model, respectively. The results show that the structure with damped additional braces can be considered, among those examined, the most effective to control vibrations due to wind, particularly the floor accelerations. Moreover, once the stiffness of the additional braces is selected, the VEDs are slightly more efficient than the FRDs, because they, unlike the FRDs, dissipate energy also for small amplitude vibrations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.807-833
• /
• 2015

While tuned mass dampers are found to be effective in suppressing vibration in a tall building, integrating it with a semi-active control system enables it to perform more efficiently. In this paper a forty-story tall steel-frame building designed according to the Canadian standard, has been studied with and without semi-active and passive tuned mass dampers. The building is assumed to be located in the Vancouver, Canada. A magneto-rheological fluid based semi-active tuned mass damper has been optimally designed to suppress the vibration of the structure against seismic excitation, and an appropriate control procedure has been implemented to optimize the building's semi-active tuned mass system to reduce the seismic response. Furthermore, the control system parameters have been adjusted to yield the maximum reduction in the structural displacements at different floor levels. The response of the structure has been studied with a variety of ground motions with low, medium and high frequency contents to investigate the performance of the semi-active tuned mass damper in comparison to that of a passive tuned mass damper. It has been shown that the semi-active control system modifies structural response more effectively than the classic passive tuned mass damper in both mitigation of maximum displacement and reduction of the settling time of the building.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.83-94
• /
• 2019

Passive negative stiffness dampers (NSDs) that possess superior energy dissipation abilities, have been proved to be more efficient than commonly adopted passive viscous dampers in controlling stay cable vibrations. Recently, inertial mass dampers (IMDs) have attracted extensive attentions since their properties are similar to NSDs. It has been theoretically predicted that superior supplemental damping can be generated for a taut cable with an IMD. This paper aims to theoretically investigate the impact of the cable sag on the efficiency of an IMD in controlling stay cable vibrations, and experimentally validate superior vibration mitigation performance of the IMD. Both the numerical and asymptotic solutions were obtained for an inclined sag cable with an IMD installed close to the cable end. Based on the asymptotic solution, the cable attainable maximum modal damping ratio and the corresponding optimal damping coefficient of the IMD were derived for a given inertial mass. An electromagnetic IMD (EIMD) with adjustable inertial mass was developed to investigate the effects of inertial mass and cable sag on the vibration mitigation performance of two model cables with different sags through series of first modal free vibration tests. The results show that the sag generally reduces the attainable first modal damping ratio of the cable with a passive viscous damper, while tends to increase the cable maximum attainable modal damping ratio provided by the IMD. The cable sag also decreases the optimum damping coefficient of the IMD when the inertial mass is less than its optimal value. The theoretically predicted first modal damping ratio of the cable with an IMD, taking into account the sag generally, agrees well with that identified from experimental results, while it will be significantly overestimated with a taut-cable model, especially for the cable with large sag.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.595-617
• /
• 2013

Semi-active control equipments are used to effectually enhance the seismic behavior of structures. Magneto-rheological (MR) dampers are semi-active devices that can be utilized to control the response of structures during seismic loads and have received voracious attention for response suppression. They supply the adaptability of active devices and stability and reliability of passive devices. This paper presents an optimal fuzzy logic control scheme for vibration mitigation of buildings using magneto-rheological dampers subjected to near-fault ground motions. Near-fault features including a directivity pulse in the fault-normal direction and a fling step in the fault-parallel direction are considered in the requisite ground motion records. The membership functions and fuzzy rules of fuzzy controller were optimized by genetic algorithm (GA). Numerical study is performed to analyze the influences of near-fault ground motions on a building that is equipped with MR dampers. Considering the uncontrolled system response as the base line, the proposed method is scrutinized by analogy with that of a conventional maximum dissipation energy (MED) controller to accentuate the effectiveness of the fuzzy logic algorithm. Results reveal that the fuzzy logic controllers can efficiently improve the structural responses and MR dampers are quite promising for reducing seismic responses during near-fault earthquakes.

• The Korean Journal of Rheology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.105-111
• /
• 1999

Dampers have been used to dissipate energy in mechanical systems. There are several types of dampers such as passive, active, and semi-active damper. Semi-active dampers have higher performance than passive ones and require less power to operate than active ones. Their damping characteristics can be changed properly for varying conditions. In this paper, we investigated the semi-active damper using Magneto-Rheological fluid. Magneto-Rheological fluid, which is one of controllable fluids, changes its damping and rheological characteristics from Newtonian fluid to Bingham fluid as the magnetic field is applied. It has several advantages such as high yield strength, low viscosity, robustness to impurities and wide temperature range of stability. If we designe a semi-active damper by using this material, we can not only design a simply structured damper but also expect rapid response. In this study, we propose several types of semi-active dampers which are designed and manufactured using Magneto-Rheological fluid and some problems encountered during their applications.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.663-678
• /
• 2020

Robust semi-active vibration control of wind turbines using tuned mass dampers (TMDs) is a promising technique. This study investigates a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine controlled by eight different types of tuned mass damper systems of equal mass: a passive TMD, a semi-active varying-spring TMD, a semi-active varying-damper TMD, a semi-active varying-damper-and-spring TMD, as well as these four damper systems paired with an additional smaller passive TMD near the mid-point of the tower. The mechanism and controllers for each of these TMD systems are explained, such as employing magnetorheological dampers for the varying-damper TMD cases. The turbine is modelled as a lumped-mass 3D finite element model. The uncontrolled and controlled turbines are subjected to loading and operational cases including service wind loads on operational turbines, seismic loading with service wind on operational turbines, and high-intensity storm wind loads on parked turbines. The displacement and acceleration responses of the tower at the first and second mode shape maxima were used as the performance indicators. Ultimately, it was found that while all the semi-active TMD systems outperformed the passive systems, it was the semi-active varying-damper-and-spring system that was found to be the most effective overall - capable of controlling vibrations about as effectively with only half the mass as a passive TMD. It was also shown that by reducing the mass of the TMD and adding a second smaller TMD below, the vibrations near the mid-point could be greatly reduced at the cost of slightly increased vibrations at the tower top.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.219-239
• /
• 2013

The present paper aims at studying the seismic response of structures equipped with viscoelastic dampers (VED). The performance of such a passive control system is here analyzed using the energy balance concept, which leads to an optimal design process. The methodology is based on an energy index (EDI) whose maximization permits determination of the optimal mechanical characteristics of VED. On the basis of a single degree of freedom model, it is shown that the maximum value of EDI corresponds to a simultaneous optimization of the significant kinematic and static response quantities, independently of the input. By using the proposed procedure, the optimal design of new and existing structures equipped with VED, inserted in traditional bracing systems, are here analyzed and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.251-258
• /
• 1999

The vibration control of bridge is studied considering the vibration characteristics of the Korean-type high-speed railway bridge. Fast nonlinear analysis is adopted as time integration method and the bridge and the train are modeled by FEM and sequentially moving constant forces respectively. Additional damping mechanism is indispensable to the Korean-type high-speed railway bridge because resonance vibration is excited under the maximum design speed. The optimal position and capacity of the damper is studied through the parametric studies, Transient vibration of the bridge is effectively controlled by such additional dampers which means that dampers play a role as structural damping. And also the maximum response of the bridge is reduced. Therefore it is verified that the increase of expected service life and the improvement of serviceability can be obtained through dampers.