• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1269-1289
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• 2014

With the sub-stepping technique, the numerical analysis in real-time dynamic hybrid testing is split into the response analysis and signal generation tasks. Two target computers that operate in real-time may be assigned to implement these two tasks, respectively, for fully extending the simulation scale of the numerical substructure. In this case, the integration time-step of solving the dynamic response of the numerical substructure can be dozens of times bigger than the sampling time-step of the controller. The time delay between the real and desired feedback forces becomes more striking, which challenges the well-developed delay compensation methods in real-time dynamic hybrid testing. This paper focuses on displacement prediction and force correction for delay compensation in the real-time dynamic hybrid testing with a large integration time-step. A new displacement prediction scheme is proposed based on recently-developed explicit integration algorithms and compared with several commonly-used prediction procedures. The evaluation of its prediction accuracy is carried out theoretically, numerically and experimentally. Results indicate that the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed prediction method are of significance.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1055-1079
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• 2014

Substructure shake table testing is a class of real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS). It combines shake table tests of substructures with real-time computational simulation of the remaining part of the structure to assess dynamic response of the entire structure. Unlike in the conventional hybrid simulation, substructure shake table testing imposes acceleration compatibilities at substructure boundaries. However, acceleration tracking of shake tables is extremely challenging, and it is not possible to produce perfect acceleration tracking without time delay. If responses of the experimental substructure have high correlation with ground accelerations, response errors are inevitably induced by the erroneous input acceleration. Feeding the erroneous responses into the RTHS procedure will deteriorate the simulation results. This study presents a set of techniques to enable reliable substructure shake table testing. The developed techniques include compensation techniques for errors induced by imperfect input acceleration of shake tables, model-based actuator delay compensation with state observer, and force correction to eliminate process and measurement noises. These techniques are experimentally investigated through RTHS using a uni-axial shake table and three-story steel frame structure at the Johns Hopkins University. The simulation results showed that substructure shake table testing with the developed compensation techniques provides an accurate and reliable means to simulate the dynamic responses of the entire structure under earthquake excitations.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1005-1030
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• 2014

The need for assessing dynamic response of typical industrial piping systems subjected to seismic loading motivated the authors to apply model reduction techniques to experimental dynamic substructuring. Initially, a better insight into the dynamic response of the emulated system was provided by means of the principal component analysis. The clear understanding of reduction basis requirements paved the way for the implementation of a number of model reduction techniques aimed at extending the applicability range of the hybrid testing technique beyond its traditional scope. Therefore, several hybrid simulations were performed on a typical full-scale industrial piping system endowed with a number of critical components, like elbows, Tee joints and bolted flange joints, ranging from operational to collapse limit states. Then, the favourable performance of the L-Stable Real-Time compatible time integrator and an effective delay compensation method were also checked throughout the testing campaign. Finally, several aspects of the piping performance were commented and conclusions drawn.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1105-1129
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• 2014

The unscented Kalman filter (UKF) has been developed for nonlinear model parametric identification, and it assumes that the model parameters are symmetrically distributed about their mean values without any constrains. However, the parameters in many applications are confined within certain ranges to make sense physically. In this paper, a constrained unscented Kalman filter (CUKF) algorithm is proposed to improve accuracy of numerical substructure modeling in hybrid testing. During hybrid testing, the numerical models of numerical substructures which are assumed identical to the physical substructures are updated online with the CUKF approach based on the measurement data from physical substructures. The CUKF method adopts sigma points (i.e., sample points) projecting strategy, with which the positions and weights of sigma points violating constraints are modified. The effectiveness of the proposed hybrid testing method is verified by pure numerical simulation and real-time as well as slower hybrid tests with nonlinear specimens. The results show that the new method has better accuracy compared to conventional hybrid testing with fixed numerical model and hybrid testing based on model updating with UKF.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.349-358
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• 2023

Real-Time Hybrid Testing (RTHT) requires the numerical substructure calculations to be completed within the defined integration time interval due to its real-time loading demands. For solving the problem, A Real-Time Hybrid Testing based on Restart-Loading Technology (RTHT-RLT) is proposed in this paper. In the proposed method, in case of the numerical substructure calculations cannot be completed within the defined integration time interval, the experimental substructure was returned back to the initial state statically. When the newest loading commands were calculated by the numerical substructure, the experimental substructure was restarted loading from the initial state to the newest loading commands so as to precisely disclosing the dynamic performance of the experimental substructure. Firstly, the methodology of the RTHT-RLT is proposed. Furthermore, the numerical simulations and experimental tests on one frame structure with a viscous damper are conducted for evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed RTHT-RLT. It is shown that the proposed RTHT-RLT innovatively renders the nonreal-time refined calculation of the numerical substructure feasible for the RTHT. The numerical and experimental results show that the proposed RTHT-RLT exhibits excellent performance in terms of stability and accuracy. The proposed RTHT-RLT may have broad application prospects for precisely investigating the dynamic behavior of large and complex engineering structures with specific experimental substructure where a restarting procedure does not affect the relevant hysteretic response.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2024

The investigation on vehicle-bridge coupling system (VBCS) is crucial in bridge design, bridge condition evaluation, and vehicle overload control. A real-time hybrid testing (RTHT) method for VBCS (RTHT-VBCS) is proposed in this paper for accurately and economically disclosing the dynamic performance of VBCSs. In the proposed method, one of the carriages is chosen as the experimental substructure loaded by servo-hydraulic actuator loading system in the laboratory, and the remaining carriages as well as the bridge structure are chosen as the numerical substructure numerically simulated in one computer. The numerical substructure and the experimental substructure are synchronized at their coupling points in terms of force equilibrium and deformation compatibility. Compared to the traditional iteration experimental method and the numerical simulation method, the proposed RTHT-VBCS method could not only obtain the dynamic response of VBCS, but also economically analyze various working conditions. Firstly, the theory of RTHT-VBCS is proposed. Secondly, numerical models of VBCS for RTHT method are presented. Finally, the feasibility and accuracy of the RTHT-VBCS are preliminarily validated by real-time hybrid simulations (RTHSs). It is shown that, the proposed RTHT-VBCS is feasible and shows great advantages over the traditional methods, and the proposed models can effectively represent the VBCS for RTHT method in terms of the force equilibrium and deformation compatibility at the coupling point. It is shown that the results of the single-degree-of-freedom model and the train vehicle model are match well with the referenced results. The RTHS results preliminarily prove the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed RTHT-VBCS.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.443-453
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• 2013

The hybrid test is one of the most advanced test methods to predict the structural dynamic behavior with the interaction between a physical substructure and a numerical modeling in the hybrid control system. The purpose of this study is to perform the multi-directional dynamic test of a steel frame structure with the real-time hybrid system and to evaluate the validation of the results. In this study, FEAPH, nonlinear finite element analysis program for hybrid only, was developed and the hybrid control system was optimized. The inefficient computational time was improved with a fixed number iteration method and parallel computational techniques used in FEAPH. Furthermore, the previously used data communication method and the interface between a substructure and an analysis program were simplified in the control system. As the results, the total processing time in real-time hybrid test was shortened up to 10 times of actual measured seismic period. In order to verify the accuracy and validation of the hybrid system, the linear and nonlinear dynamic tests with a steel framed structure were carried out so that the trend of displacement responses was almost in accord with the numerical results. However, the maximum displacement responses had somewhat differences due to the analysis errors in material nonlinearities and the occurrence of permanent displacements. Therefore, if the proper material model and numerical algorithms are developed, the real-time hybrid system could be used to evaluate the structural dynamic behavior and would be an effective testing method as a substitute for a shaking table test.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.913-929
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• 2015

Hybrid simulation is increasingly being recognized as a powerful technique for laboratory testing. It offers the opportunity for global system evaluation of civil infrastructure systems subject to extreme dynamic loading, often with a significant reduction in time and cost. In this approach, a reference structure/system is partitioned into two or more substructures. The portion of the structural system designated as 'physical' or 'experimental' is tested in the laboratory, while other portions are replaced with a computational model. Many researchers have quite effectively used hybrid simulation (HS) and real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) methods for examination and verification of existing and new design concepts and proposed structural systems or devices. This paper provides a detailed perspective of the enabling role that HS and RTHS methods have played in advancing the practice of earthquake engineering. Herein, our focus is on investigations related to earthquake engineering, those with CURATED data available in their entirety in the NEES Data Repository.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1081-1103
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• 2014

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) has emerged as an important tool for testing large and complex structures with a focus on rate-dependent specimen behavior. Due to the real-time constraints, accurate dynamic control of servo-hydraulic actuators is required. These actuators are necessary to realize the desired displacements of the specimen, however they introduce unwanted dynamics into the RTHS loop. Model-based actuator control strategies are based on linearized models of the servo-hydraulic system, where the controller is taken as the model inverse to effectively cancel out the servo-hydraulic dynamics (i.e., model-based feedforward control). An accurate model of a servo-hydraulic system generally contains more poles than zeros, leading to an improper inverse (i.e., more zeros than poles). Rather than introduce additional poles to create a proper inverse controller, the higher order derivatives necessary for implementing the improper inverse can be calculated from available information. The backward-difference method is proposed as an alternative to discretize an improper continuous time model for use as a feedforward controller in RTHS. This method is flexible in that derivatives of any order can be explicitly calculated such that controllers can be developed for models of any order. Using model-based feedforward control with the backward-difference method, accurate actuator control and stable RTHS are demonstrated using a nine-story steel building model implemented with an MR damper.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1247-1267
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• 2014

Real-Time Hybrid Simulation (RTHS) is a novel approach conceived to evaluate dynamic responses of structures with parts of a structure physically tested and the remainder parts numerically modelled. In RTHS, delay estimation is often a precondition of compensation; nonetheless, system delay may vary during testing. Consequently, it is sometimes necessary to measure delay online. Along these lines, this paper proposes an online delay estimation method using least-squares algorithm based on a simplified physical system model, i.e., a pure delay multiplied by a gain reflecting amplitude errors of physical system control. Advantages and disadvantages of different delay estimation methods based on this simplified model are firstly discussed. Subsequently, it introduces the least-squares algorithm in order to render the estimator based on Taylor series more practical yet effective. As a result, relevant parameter choice results to be quite easy. Finally in order to verify performance of the proposed method, numerical simulations and RTHS with a buckling-restrained brace specimen are carried out. Relevant results show that the proposed technique is endowed with good convergence speed and accuracy, even when measurement noises and amplitude errors of actuator control are present.