• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.8
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• pp.953-974
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• 2010

The performance of variable dampers for seismic protection of the benchmark highway bridge (phase I) under six real earthquake ground motions is presented. A simplified lumped mass finite-element model of the 91/5 highway bridge in Southern California is used for the investigation. A variable damper, developed from magnetorheological (MR) damper is used as a semi-active control device and its effectiveness with friction force schemes is investigated. A velocity-dependent damping model of variable damper is used. The effects of friction damping of the variable damper on the seismic response of the bridge are examined by taking different values of friction force, step-coefficient and transitional velocity of the damper. The seismic responses with variable dampers are compared with the corresponding uncontrolled case, and controlled by alternate sample control strategies. The results of investigation clearly indicate that the base shear, base moment and mid-span displacement are substantially reduced. In particular, the reduction in the bearing displacement is quite significant. The friction and the two-step friction force schemes of variable damper are found to be quite effective in reducing the peak response quantities of the bridge to a level similar to or better than that of the sample passive, semi-active and active controllers.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.14 no.9 s.90
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• pp.837-845
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• 2004

A variable friction damper for vehicle driveline has been proposed. This new torsional damper system uses a solenoid as an actuator to vary friction force of the damper. To verify the idea of using a solenoid in a variable damper system, the test fixture and the dampers are made and tested. Also, to find out the range of damper friction forces that influence the vehicle driveline vibration, a mathematical model of the driveline had been developed and simulated. Test and simulation results show that, within electric current used in the vehicle electric system, the solenoid can develop enough friction force that will surpass resonance in the driveline of 1.5 L Gasoline engine vehicle during acceleration.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.17 no.3_4
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• pp.539-556
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• 2004

In this paper, the design, fabrication and characterization of a piezoelectric friction damper are presented. It was sized with the proposed practical procedure to minimize the story drift and floor acceleration of an existing 1/4-scale, three-story frame structure under both near-fault and far-field earthquakes. The design operation friction force in kip was numerically determined to range from 2.2 to 3.3 times the value of the peak ground acceleration in g (gravitational acceleration). Experimental results indicated that the load-displacement loop of the damper is nearly rectangular in shape and independent of the excitation frequency. The coefficient of friction of the damper is approximately 0.85 when the clamping force on the damper is above 400 lbs. It was found that the friction force variation of the damper generated by piezoelectric actuators with 1000 Volts is approximately 90% of the expected value. The properties of the damper are insensitive to its ambient temperature and remain almost the same after being tested for more than 12,000 cycles.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.741-757
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• 2008

The research field of structural control has evolved from the development of passive devices since 1970s, through the intensive investigation on active systems in 1980s, to the recent studies of semi-active control systems in 1990s. Currently semi-active control is considered most promising in civil engineering applications. However, actual implementation of semi-active devices is still limited due mainly to their system maintenance and associated long-term reliability as a result of power requirement. In this paper, the concept of functionally upgraded passive devices is introduced to streamline some of the state-of-the-art researches and guide the development of new passive devices that can mimic the function of their corresponding semi-active control devices for various applications. The general characteristics of this special group of passive devices are discussed and representative examples are summarized. Their superior performances are illustrated with cyclic and shake table tests of two example devices: mass-variable tuned liquid damper and friction-pendulum bearing with a variable sliding surface curvature.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

Most washing machines are now produced as a drum-type, where a washing drum mounted on a suspension system with springs and dampers, to minimize the transmittance of the vibration from the drum to the frame. A low-cost MR damper, using magneto-rheological fluids, can produce variable damping forces by changing the current values in the magnetic coil. Experimental results show the comparison of the vibration attenuation performances between two different dampers. One test set-up uses a passive damper and another one uses a MR fluid damper. The test results showed that the vibration amplitude of the washing machine with the MR damper is much smaller than the case with the passive damper.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.496-500
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• 2000

대형 구조물의 진동제어를 위하여 MR 유체 댐퍼를 사용한 반능동 제어기법에 대하여 연구하였다. 기존에 많이 사용되고 있는 수동제어기법은 일단 제어장치를 설치한 후에는 구조물에 실제로 작용하고 있는 외부 하중의 현재 특성에 대해서 적절히 반응할 수 없다는 제한을 가지고 있으며, 이를 극복하기 위하여 연구되어온 능동제어기법은 구조물이 진동을 감소시키기 위하여 구조물에 직접적으로 가해지는 커다란 제어력을 요구하며, 이로 인해 경우에 따라서는 불안정한 상태가 유발될 수도 있다는 점이 단점으로 지적되고 있다. 최근에 Spencer 등은 반능동 제어기법을 제안하였는데, 이는 수동제어장치의 제어특성을 On-Line 으로 조절하는 방식으로서 제어 가능한 수동제어기법으로도 불리운다. 구조물의 진동제어에 필요한 제어력이, 특수한 제어기구에서 발생되는 인위적인 힘이 아니라, 적절한 구조부재에서 발생되는 자연적인 부재력이므로, 무엇보다 강인하고 신뢰할 수 있는 제어기법이며, 이때 제어장치의 구조적 특성을, 측정된 구조물의 응답에 맞추어 적절히 조절함으로써 다양한 외부하중에 대해 보다 효율적인 제어가 이루어질 수 있도록 한 방법이다. 반능동제어를 위한 제어기로서는 Variable Orifice Dampers, Friction Controllable Isolators, Variable Stiffness Devices, Electro-Rheological (ER) Fluid Damper, Magneto-Rheological(MR) Fluid Damper등이 제안되고 있으며, 본 논문에서는 반응속도가 빠르고, 적은 파워만을 요구하며, 커다란 제어력을 낼 수 있는 MR Damper를 사용하여 지진하중을 받는 구조물의 반능동 제어게 대하여 연구하였다. MR Damper의 특성이 비선형이므로 이에 적합한 Sliding Mode Fuzzy Control(SMFC)기법을 사용하였으며 이때 SMFC 의 최적 설계를 위하여 Genetic Algorithm을 적용하였다. 제안된 제어기법의 실제 적용성을 검증하기 위하여 기존이 제어결과와 비교 검토하였으며, 그 결과로부터 MR Damper를 사용한 반능동 제어기법이 구조물의 진동제어에 매우 효과적임을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.9-21
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• 2003

This paper describes the practical implementation of a semiactive hydropneumatic suspension system to provide the high off-road performance of military tracked vehicles. Real gas behavior of a spring system, frictional forces of joints, and the dynamics of a continuously variable damper are considered. The control system is consisted of two control loops, an outer loop calculates a target spool position which can deliver the required damping force and an inner loop tracks the required spool position. Dynamic tests of the one axis model show that the semiactive suspension system considerably reduces the acceleration as well as velocity and displacement of the sprung mass than the passive one.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.67-70
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• 2002

This paper presents the property of the Squeeze Film Damper (SFD) using Magneto-Rheological fluid (MR fluid). The damping property of a SFD for a flexible rotor system varied according to vibration mode. MR fluid is known as a functional fluid with controllable apparent viscosity of the fluid by applied magnetic field strength. When the MR fluid is applied in the SFD, the SFD using MR fluid can effectively reduce vibrations of the flexible rotor in a wide range of rotating speed by control of the applied magnetic field strength. To investigate in detail the SFD using MR fluid, the SFD to support one mass was constructed and its performance was experimentally investigated in the present study. The damping property of the SFD using MR fluid has viscous damping by Newtonian fluid, but not Coulomb friction by Bingham fluid. Therefore, The system damped by the SFD can be considered as a linear system.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2017

This article aims to investigate the possible retrofitting of a deficient building with soft story failure mode by connecting it to an adjacent building which is designed based on current code with friction dampers at all floors. Low cost and high performance reliability along with significant energy dissipation pertaining to stable hysteretic loops may be considered in order to choose the proper damper for connecting adjacent buildings. After connecting two neighbouring floors by friction dampers, the sliding forces of dampers at various stories are set in two arrangements: uniform sliding force and then variable sliding force. In order to account for the stochastic nature of the seismic events, incremental dynamic analyses are employed prior and after the installation of the friction dampers at the various floors. Based on these results, fragility curves and mean annual rate of exceedance of serviceability and ultimate limit states are obtained. The results of this study show that the collapse mode of the deficient building can affect the optimum arrangement of sliding forces of friction dampers at Collapse Prevention (CP) performance level. In particular, the Immediate Occupancy (IO) performance level is not tangible to the sliding force arrangement and it depends solely on sliding force value. Generally it can be claimed that this rehabilitation scheme can turn the challenge of pounding two adjacent buildings into the opportunity of dissipating a large amount of the seismic input energy by the friction dampers, thus improving significantly the poor seismic performance of the deficient structure.