• 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.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2014

Attaching a piezoelectric transducer to a vibrating structure, and shunting it with an electric circuit, gives rise to different passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control techniques. This paper attempts to review the research related to structural vibration control, via passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control methods. First, the existing electromechanical modeling is reviewed, along with the modeling methods. These range from lumped parameters, to distributed parameters modeling of piezostructural systems shunted by electrical networks. Vibration control laws are then discussed, covering passive, semi-passive, and semi-active control techniques, which are classified according to whether external power is supplied to the piezoelectric transducers, or not. Emphasis is placed on recent articles covering semi-passive and semi-active control techniques, based upon switched shunt circuits. This review provides the necessary background material for researchers interested in the growing field of vibration damping and control, via shunted piezostructural systems.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.387-394
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• 2003

A compromise between passive and active control systems has been developed recently in the form of semi-active control systems. Semi-active control systems maintain the reliability of passive control systems while taking advantage of the adjustability of an active control system. This paper presents the results of an experimental study to evaluate the performance of a semi-active orificed fluid damper. The semi-active orificed fluid damper considered is a two-stage damper with normally open solenoid valve. Through a series of experimental tests, characteristics and performance of the damper is investigated.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.807-833
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• 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
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.69-79
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• 2009

A non-clipped semi-active stochastic optimal control strategy for nonlinear structural systems with MR dampers is developed based on the stochastic averaging method and stochastic dynamical programming principle. A nonlinear stochastic control structure is first modeled as a semi-actively controlled, stochastically excited and dissipated Hamiltonian system. The control force of an MR damper is separated into passive and semi-active parts. The passive control force components, coupled in structural mode space, are incorporated in the drift coefficients by directly using the stochastic averaging method. Then the stochastic dynamical programming principle is applied to establish a dynamical programming equation, from which the semi-active optimal control law is determined and implementable by MR dampers without clipping in terms of the Bingham model. Under the condition on the control performance function given in section 3, the expressions of nonlinear and linear non-clipped semi-active optimal control force components are obtained as well as the non-clipped semi-active LQG control force, and thus the value function and semi-active nonlinear optimal control force are actually existent according to the developed strategy. An example of the controlled stochastic hysteretic column is given to illustrate the application and effectiveness of the developed semi-active optimal control strategy.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.141-155
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• 2019

This work evaluates the influence of negative stiffness on the performances of various vehicle suspension systems, and proposes a re-centering negative stiffness device (NSD). The re-centering NSD consists of a passive magnetic negative stiffness spring and a positioning shaft with a re-centering function. The former produces negative stiffness control forces, and the latter prevents the amplification of static spring deflection. The numerical simulations reveal that negative stiffness can improve the ride comfort of a vehicle without affecting its road holding abilities for either passive or semi-active suspension systems. In general, the improvement degree of ride comfort increases as negative stiffness increases. For passive suspension system, negative stiffness brings in negative stiffness feature in the control forces, which is helpful for the ride comfort of a vehicle. For semi-active suspensions, negative stiffness can alleviate the impact of clipped damping in semi-active dampers, and thus the ride comfort of a vehicle can be improved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.938-944
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• 1994

Active damping has been shown to offer increased suspension performance in terms of vehicle isolation, suspension packaging, and road-tire contract force. Many semi-active damping strategies have been introduced to approximate the response of active damping with the modulation of passive damping parameters. This study investigates the characteristics of semi-active suspension control through the simulation of passive, skyhook active, and semi-active damping models. A quarter car model is studied with the conrolled damping replacing both passive and active damping. A new semi-active scheme is suggested to eliminate the abrupt changes in semi-active damping force. It is shown that the new strategy performs almost identically to the so called "force controlled" semi-active law without steep changes in damping force or body acceleration.eleration.

• 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.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.443-458
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• 2011

An extensive numerical investigation on the magnetorheological (MR) damper-based smart passive control system for mitigating vibration of stay cables under wind loads has been conducted. The smart passive system is incorporated with an electromagnetic induction (EMI) device for reducing complexity of the conventional MR damper based semi-active control system by eliminating an external power supply part and a feedback control part (i.e., sensors and controller). In this study, the control performance of the smart passive system has been evaluated by using a cable structure model extracted from a full-scale long stay cable with high tension. Numerical simulation results of the proposed smart damping system are compared with those of the passive and semi-active control systems employing MR dampers. It is demonstrated from the results that the control performance of the smart passive control system is better than those of the passive control cases and comparable to those of the semi-active control systems in the forced vibration analysis as well as the free vibration analysis, even though there is no external power source in the smart passive system.

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