Semi-Active Control of Structures Equipped With MR Dampers Based on Uniform Deformation Theory

Abstract

Optimization based on uniform deformation theory (UDT) was proposed as a new technique in the field of optimum design of structures. In this paper, the concept of UDT has been utilized for semi-active control of buildings equipped with magneto-rheological (MR) dampers. Based on UDT, a method for determining the optimum control voltage using a polynomial controller has been presented. The coefficients of the polynomial controller have been determined by minimizing the standard deviation of the maximum inter-story drifts of a structure and by utilizing the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The proposed controller based on UDT has been applied to control three- and six-story nonlinear shear buildings subjected to various earthquakes. The performance of this controller was evaluated regarding the uniform distribution of the maximum inter-story drifts and the reduction of the structural responses. Using this method, the maximum inter-story drifts of the structures were remarkably uniform in comparison to the uncontrolled structures. In addition, the maximum structural responses, especially the maximum inter-story drifts of the structures, significantly decreased.