• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.323-335
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• 2020

Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), a smart material, is an innovative material for base isolation system. It has magnetorheological (MR) effect that can control the stiffness in real-time. In this paper, a new hybrid base isolation system combining two electromagnetic closed circuits and the roller bearing is proposed. In the proposed system, the roller part can support the vertical load. Thus, the MRE part is free from the vertical load and can exhibit the maximum MR effect. The MRE magnetic loop is constructed in the free space of the roller bearing and forms a strong magnetic field. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed hybrid base isolation system, dynamic characteristic tests and performance evaluation were carried out. Dynamic characteristic tests were performed under the extensive range of strain of the MRE and the change of the applied current. Performance evaluation was carried out using the hybrid simulation under five earthquakes (i.e., El Centro, Kobe, Hachinohe, Northridge, and Loma Prieta). Especially, semi-active fuzzy control algorithm was applied and compared with passive type. From the performance evaluation, the comparison shows that the new hybrid base isolation system using fuzzy control algorithm is superior to passive type in reducing the acceleration and displacement responses of a target structure.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.203-217
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• 2014

Due to the shift in paradigm from passive control to adaptive control, smart tuned mass dampers (STMDs) have received considerable attention for vibration control in tall buildings and bridges. STMDs are superior to tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in reducing the response of the primary structure. Unlike TMDs, STMDs are capable of accommodating the changes in primary structure properties, due to damage or deterioration, by tuning in real time based on a local feedback. In this paper, a novel adaptive-length pendulum (ALP) damper is developed and experimentally verified. Length of the pendulum is adjusted in real time using a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire actuator. This can be achieved in two ways i) by changing the amount of current in the SMA wire actuator or ii) by changing the effective length of current carrying SMA wire. Using an instantaneous frequency tracking algorithm, the dominant frequency of the structure can be tracked from a local feedback signal, then the length of pendulum is adjusted to match the dominant frequency. Effectiveness of the proposed ALP-STMD mechanism, combined with the STFT frequency tracking control algorithm, is verified experimentally on a prototype two-storey shear frame. It has been observed through experimental studies that the ALP-STMD absorbs most of the input energy associated in the vicinity of tuned frequency of the pendulum damper. The reduction of storey displacements up to 80 % when subjected to forced excitation (harmonic and chirp-signal) and a faster decay rate during free vibration is observed in the experiments.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.577-584
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• 2003

Traditional ankle rehabilitation procedures are tedious, repetitive, and require therapist's help. Therefore, they do not provide patients with good motivation to actively participate in the rehabilitation exercises. In addition, objective diagnosis and evaluation of the treatment progress have been difficult because records of exercise history are made by passive instruments from time to time. The virtual reality technology can make these procedures more fun so that patients can perform everyday rehabilitation exercises more actively. Moreover, haptics technology can give active resistance to the patients ankle motion to improve strength of muscles as well as can record ankle's motion and force histories for objective diagnosis and evaluation. This paper summarizes development of a virtual environment fur reforming the conventional ankle rehabilitation procedures. First of all, conventional rehabilitation procedures have been summarized. Secondly, haptic design and control, user interface design, virtual environment contents design are described. Lastly, mutual cooperation among many developers including medical doctors and therapists and future works are commented.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2021

In steel cable bridges, the use of magnetorheological (MR) dampers between butt cables is constantly increasing to dampen vibrations caused by rain and wind. The biggest problem in the actual applications of those devices is to launch a kind of appropriate algorithm that can effectively and efficiently suppress the perturbation of the tie through basic calculations and optimal solutions. This article discusses the optimal evolutionary design based on a linear and quadratic regulator (hereafter LQR) to lessen the perturbation of the bridges with cables. The control numerical algorithms are expected to effectively and efficiently decrease the possible risks of the structural response in amplification owing to the feedback force in the direction of the MR attenuator. In addition, these numerical algorithms approximate those optimal linear quadratic regulator control forces through the corresponding damping and stiffness, which significantly lessens the work of calculating the significant and optimal control forces. Therefore, it has been shown that it plays an important and significant role in the practical application design of semiactive MR control power systems. In the present proposed novel evolutionary parallel distributed compensator scheme, the vibrational control problem with a simulated demonstration is used to evaluate the numerical algorithmic performance and effectiveness. The results show that these semiactive MR control numerical algorithms which are present proposed in the present paper has better performance than the optimal and the passive control, which is almost reaching the levels of linear quadratic regulator controls with minimal feedback requirements.

• Computational Structural Engineering : An International Journal
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2003

A recently developed semi-active control system employing magneto-rheological (MR) fluid dampers is applied to vibration control of a wind excited tall building. The semi-active control system with MR fluid dampers appears to have the reliability of passive control devices and the adaptability of fully active control systems. The system requires only small power source, which is critical during severe events, when the main power source may fail. Numerical simulation studies are performed to demonstrate the efficiency of the MR dampers on the third ASCE benchmark problem. Multiple MR dampers are assumed to be installed in the 76-story building. Genetic algorithm is applied to determine the optimal locations and capacities of the MR dampers. Clipped optimal controller is designed to control the MR dampers based on the acceleration feedback. To verify the robustness with respect to the variation of the external wind force, several cases with different wind forces are considered in the numerical simulation. Simulation results show that the semi-actively controlled MR dampers can effectively reduce both the peak and RMS responses the tall building under various wind force conditions. The control performance of the MR dampers for wind is found to be fairly similar to the performance of an active tuned mass damper.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2022

Recently, machine learning is widely used to solve optimization problems in various engineering fields. In this study, machine learning is applied to development of a control algorithm for a smart control device for reduction of seismic responses. For this purpose, Deep Q-network (DQN) out of reinforcement learning algorithms was employed to develop control algorithm. A single degree of freedom (SDOF) structure with a smart tuned mass damper (TMD) was used as an example structure. A smart TMD system was composed of MR (magnetorheological) damper instead of passive damper. Reward design of reinforcement learning mainly affects the control performance of the smart TMD. Various hyper-parameters were investigated to optimize the control performance of DQN-based control algorithm. Usually, decrease of the time step for numerical simulation is desirable to increase the accuracy of simulation results. However, the numerical simulation results presented that decrease of the time step for reward calculation might decrease the control performance of DQN-based control algorithm. Therefore, a proper time step for reward calculation should be selected in a DQN training process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.3173-3185
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• 1996

Multi-model vibration control of laminated composites plates for various fiver orientations has been carried out by making use of piezolectric materials(PZT) as sensors and actuators. Cantilever plate is used as a specimen to test multi-modal vibration supression under random exitation. Impulse technique is applied to determine the natural frequency, the damping ratio(.zeta.) and the modal damping(2.zeta..omega.) of the first bending and the trosion modes. Two independent controllers are implemented to control the two modes simultaneously and established digitally on the basis of the direct negative velocity feedback control with collocated sensor/actuator. Experimental results for various fiber orientations and feedback gains are compared with finite element analysis considering stiffnesses and dampings of piezoeletiric sensors, actuators and bonding layer.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.181-191
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• 2003

Since the nonlinearity and uncertainties which inherently exist in vehicle system need to be considered in active suspension control law design, this paper proposes a new control strategy for active vehicle suspension systems by using a combined control scheme, i.e., respectively using a genetic algorithm (GA) based self-tuning PID controller and a fuzzy logic controller in two loops. In the control scheme, the PID controller is used to minimize vehicle body vertical acceleration, the fuzzy logic controller is to minimize pitch acceleration and meanwhile to attenuate vehicle body vertical acceleration further by tuning weighting factors. In order to improve the adaptability to the changes of plant parameters, based on the defined objectives, a genetic algorithm is introduced to tune the parameters of PID controller, the scaling factors, the gain values and the membership functions of fuzzy logic controller on-line. Taking a four degree-of-freedom nonlinear vehicle model as example, the proposed control scheme is applied and the simulations are carried out in different road disturbance input conditions. Simulation results show that the present control scheme is very effective in reducing peak values of vehicle body accelerations, especially within the most sensitive frequency range of human response, and in attenuating the excessive dynamic tire load to enhance road holding performance. The stability and adaptability are also showed even when the system is subject to severe road conditions, such as a pothole, an obstacle or a step input. Compared with conventional passive suspensions and the active vehicle suspension systems by using, e.g., linear fuzzy logic control, the combined PID and fuzzy control without parameters self-tuning, the new proposed control system with GA-based self-learning ability can improve vehicle ride comfort performance significantly and offer better system robustness.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.657-678
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• 2013

For economical earthquake resistant design of cable-stayed bridge tower, the use of energy dissipation systems for the earthquake protection of steel structures represents an alternative seismic design method where the tower structure could be constructed to dissipate a large amount of earthquake input energy through inelastic deformations in certain positions, which could be easily retrofitted after damage. The design of energy dissipation systems for bridges could be achieved as the result of two conflicting requirements: no damage under serviceability limit state load condition and maximum dissipation under ultimate limit state load condition. A new concept for cable-stayed bridge tower seismic design that incorporates sacrificial link scheme of low yield point steel horizontal beam is introduced to enable the tower frame structure to remain elastic under large seismic excitation. A nonlinear dynamic analysis for the tower model with the proposed energy dissipation systems is carried out and compared to the response obtained for the tower with its original configuration. The improvement in seismic performance of the tower with supplemental passive energy dissipation system has been measured in terms of the reduction achieved in different response quantities. Obtained results show that the proposed energy dissipation system of low yield point steel seismic link could strongly enhance the seismic performance of the tower structure where the tower and the overall bridge demands are significantly reduced. Low yield point steel seismic link effectively reduces the damage of main structural members under earthquake loading as seismic link yield level decreases due their exceptional behavior as well as its ability to undergo early plastic deformations achieving the concentration of inelastic deformation at tower horizontal beam.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.195-211
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• 2020

Among anti-seismic technologies, base isolation is a very effective means of mitigating damage to structural and nonstructural components, such as equipment. However, most seismic isolation systems are designed for mitigating only horizontal seismic responses because the realization of a vertical isolation system (VIS) is difficult. The difficulty is primarily due to conflicting isolation stiffness demands in the static and dynamic states for a VIS, which requires sufficient rigidity to support the self-weight of the isolated object in the static state, but sufficient flexibility to lengthen the isolation period and uncouple the ground motion in the dynamic state. To overcome this problem, a semi-active VIS, called the piezoelectric inertia-type vertical isolation system (PIVIS), is proposed in this study. PIVIS is composed of a piezoelectric friction damper (PFD) and a leverage mechanism with a counterweight. The counterweight provides an uplifting force in the static state and an extra inertial force in the dynamic state; therefore, the effective vertical stiffness of PIVIS is higher in the static state and lower in the dynamic state. The PFD provides a controllable friction force for PIVIS to further prevent its excessive displacement. For experimental verification, a shaking table test was conducted on a prototype PIVIS controlled by a simple controller. The experimental results well agree with the theoretical results. To further investigate the isolation performance of PIVIS, the seismic responses of PIVIS were simulated numerically by considering 14 vertical ground motions with different characteristics. The responses of PIVIS were compared with those of a traditional VIS and a passive system (PIVIS without control). The numerical results demonstrate that compared with the traditional and passive systems, PIVIS can effectively suppress isolation displacement in all kinds of earthquake with various peak ground accelerations and frequency content while maintaining its isolation efficiency. The proposed system is particularly effective for near-fault earthquakes with long-period components, for which it prevents resonant-like motion.