A multi-purpose earthquake simulator and a flexible development platform for actuator controller design

Abstract

This paper presents a multi-purpose uniaxial earthquake simulator that has been designed and developed at the Johns Hopkins University. The earthquake simulator is coupled with a flexible platform that facilitates the development of actuator control strategies to enhance accuracy in shake table tests. The development platform provides a full access to processes in control including an actuator servo control loop, enabling high-fidelity controller designs to be implemented and experimentally investigated for earthquake simulators. This paper presents construction details, hydraulic components, dynamic specifications, an integrated control and data acquisition system, and example applications of the earthquake simulator. The paper demonstrates the versatility of the earthquake simulator and the development platform that can be adopted elsewhere.