EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATIONS OF H-INFINITY AND SLIDING MODE CONTROL FORSEISMICALLY EXCITED BUILDINGS

Recently, H-infinity, and sliding mode control methods have been inves tigated for applications to active/hybrid control of seismically excit ed structures. Numerical simulation results indicate that both control methods are quite promising for civil engineering applications. In th e present paper, shaking table experimental tests were conducted to ve rify the H-infinity and continuous sliding mode control methods. The t est structure used was the three-story 1/4-scaled building model, equi pped with an active tendon control system, which was used extensively at the State University of New York, Buffalo. Different earthquake rec ords were used as the input excitations, including the El Centro, Paco ima, Hachinohe, and Taft. Both the full-state feedback controllers and the static output feedback controllers were used. Experimental data c orrelate satisfactorily with numerical simulation results. Extensive e xperimental results demonstrate that the H-infinity and continuous sli ding mode control methods, in particular the static output feedback co ntrollers using only the measured information from a limited number of sensors installed at strategic locations without an observer, are qui te promising for practical implementations of active control systems o n seismically excited structures.