Semi-active control of seismically excited base-isolated building model with friction pendulum systems

Abstract

In this paper, effectiveness of various semi-active friction control strategies in protecting the base-isolated benchmark building model with friction pendulum systems as isolators and subject to various prescribed near-field ground motions has been investigated. These friction control strategies include semi-active discontinuous pulse filter (SADPF) controller, semi-active continuous pulse filter (SACPF) controller and visco-elastic friction (VEF) controller. In addition, the linear passive viscous (LPV) damper is also considered for comparison. Both the SACPF and SADPF controllers are designed by using the augmented structure-pulse filter model recently proposed by the authors. Simulation results indicate that all these controllers are effective in mitigating the base displacements, although the reduction in base displacement may be accompanied by an increase in superstructure response quantities. The SACPF controller is found to be the most effective among semi-active controllers, including Sample Lyapunov controller, in the sense that (i) increase in superstructure response quantities is quite minimal or these response quantities are decreased as the base displacement is reduced, (ii) there is no amplification in peak base acceleration and (iii) the control force does not have chattering-type characteristics and control force is applied only when peak base displacement is significant. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.