• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.33-42
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• 2004

The usual practice of placing viscoelastic dampers (VED) in the inter-story of building structures frequently interfere with spatial planning and obstruct internal view. These shortcomings can be overcome by installing VED in seismic joints or in expansion joints which are usually hidden under a cover. This study investigates the effect of installing VED in seismic joints to reduce earthquake-induced dynamic reponses. Parametric studies were conducted using 3-DOF systems connected by VED and subjected to earthquake excitations to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out with five-story structures composed of different structure systems and connected by seismic joints. According to the analysis results the use of VED in seismic joints turned out to be effective as long as the natural frequencies of the connected structures are different enough.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.465-474
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• 2008

The real-time hybrid testing method(RT-HYTEM) is a structural testing technique in which the numerical integration of the equation of motion for a numerical substructure and the physical testing for an experimental substructure are performed simultaneously in real-time. This study presents the quantitative evaluation of the seismic performance of a building structure installed with an passive and semi-active MR damper by using RT-HYTEM. The building model that was identified from the force-vibration testing results of a real-scaled 5-story building is used as the numerical substructure, and an MR damper corresponding to an experimental substructure is physically tested by using the universal testing machine(UTM). The RT-HYTEM implemented in this study is validated because the real-time hybrid testing results obtained by application of sinusoidal and earthquake excitations and the corresponding analytical results obtained by using the Bouc-Wen model as the control force of the MR damper respect to input currents were in good agreement. Also for preliminary study, some semi-active control algorithms were applied to the MR damper in order to control the structural responses optimally. Comparing between the test results of semi-active control using RT-HYTEM and numerical analysis results show that the RT-HYTEM is more resonable than numerical analysis to evaluate the performance of semi-active control algorithms.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.63-76
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• 2004

This paper presents LRB-based hybrid base isolation systems employing additional active/semiactive control devices for mitigating earthquake-induced vibration of a cable-stayed 29 bridge. Hybrid base isolation systems could improve the control performance compared with the passive type-base isolation system such as LRB-installed bridge system due to multiple control devices are operating. In this paper, the additional response reduction by the two typical additional control devices, such as active type hydraulic actuators controlled by LQG algorithm and semiactive-type magnetorheological dampers controlled by clipped-optimal algorithm, have been evaluated bypreliminarily investigating the slightly modified version of the ASCE phase I benchmark cable-stayed bridge problem (i.e., the installation of LRBs to the nominal cable-stayed bridge model of the problem). It shows from the numerical simulation results that all the LRB based hybrid seismic isolation systems considered are quite effective to mitigate the structural responses. In addition, the numerical results demonstrate that the LRB based hybrid seismic isolation systems employing MR dampers have the robustness to some degree of the stiffness uncertainty of in the structure, whereas the hybrid system employing hydraulic actuators does not. Therefore, the feasibility of the hybrid base isolation systems employing semiactive additional control devices could be more appropriate in realfor full-scale civil infrastructure applications is clearly verified due to their efficacy and robustness.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.347-359
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• 2020

The Mega-Sub Controlled Structure System (MSCSS), an innovative vibration passive control system for building structures, is improved by adding lead rubber bearings (LRBs) on top of the substructure. For the new system, a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the dynamic parameters and distributions of dampers and LRBs. The program uses various seismic performance indicators as optimization objectives, and corresponding results are compared. It is found that the optimization procedure for maximizing the energy dissipation ratio yields the best solutions, and optimized models have consistent seismic performances under different earthquakes. Seismic performances of optimized MSCSS models with and without LRBs, as well as the traditional Mega-Sub Structure model, are evaluated and compared under El Centro wave, Taft wave and 20 other artificial waves. In both elastic and plastic analysis, the model with LRBs shows significantly smaller story drift and horizontal acceleration than those of the other two models, and fewer plastic hinges are developed during severe earthquakes. Energy analysis also shows that LRBs installed in proper locations increase the deformation and energy dissipation of dampers, thereby significantly reduce the kinetic, potential, and hysteretic energy in the structure. However, LRBs do not have to be mounted on all the additional columns. It is also demonstrated that LRBs at unfavorable locations can decrease the energy dissipation for dampers. After LRBs are installed, the optimal damping coefficient and the optimal damping exponent of dampers are reduced to produce the best damping effect.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2012

Superconductor flywheel energy storage system (SFESs) is an electro-mechanical battery with high energy storage density, long life, and good environmental affinity. SFESs have been developed for application to a regenerative power of train, the storage of distributed power sources such as solar and wind power, and a power quality improvement. As superconductor bearing is completely passive, it is not necessary to control a system elaborately but accurate analysis in mechanical properties of the HTS bearing is very important for application to SFESs. Stiffness and damping properties are the main index for evaluation the capacity of HTS bearings and make it possible to adjust rotordynamic properties while operating the rotor-bearing system. The superconductor bearing consists of a stator containing single grain YBCO bulks, a ring-type permanent magnet rotor with a strong magnetic field that can reach the bulk surface, and a bearing support for assembly to SFESs frame. In this study, we investigated the stiffness and damping properties of superconductor bearings in 35 kWh SFESs. Finally, we found that 35 kWh superconductor bearing has uniform stiffness properties depend on the various orientations of rotor vibration. We discovered total damping coefficient of superconductor bearing is affected by not only magnetic damping in superconductor bulk but also external damping in bearing support. From the results, it is confirmed that the conducted evaluation can considerably improve energy storage efficiency of the SFESs, and these results can be used for the optimal capacity of superconductor bearings of the SFESs.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.219-233
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• 2014

In a companion paper, Pasala and Nagarajaiah analytically and experimentally validate the Adaptive Length Pendulum Smart Tuned Mass Damper (ALP-STMD) on a primary structure (2 story steel structure) whose frequencies are time invariant (Pasala and Nagarajaiah 2012). In this paper, the ALP-STMD effectiveness on a primary structure whose frequencies are time varying is studied experimentally. This study experimentally validates the ability of an ALP-STMD to adequately control a structural system in the presence of real time changes in primary stiffness that are detected by a real time observer based system identification. The experiments implement the newly developed Adaptive Length Pendulum Smart Tuned Mass Damper (ALP-STMD) which was first introduced and developed by Nagarajaiah (2009), Nagarajaiah and Pasala (2010) and Nagarajaiah et al. (2010). The ALP-STMD employs a mass pendulum of variable length which can be tuned in real time to the parameters of the system using sensor feedback. The tuning action is made possible by applying a current to a shape memory alloy wire changing the effective length that supports the damper mass assembly in real time. Once a stiffness change in the structural system is detected by an open loop observer, the ALP-STMD is re-tuned to the modified system parameters which successfully reduce the response of the primary system. Significant performance improvement is illustrated for the stiffness modified system, which undergoes the re-tuning adaptation, when compared to the stiffness modified system without adaptive re-tuning.