Dissipator placement design for truss structures via balancing theory

Application of a balancing theory to the placement of energy dissipators fo r truss structures is discussed. To apply the balancing theory, the equatio n of motion for a slightly damped truss structure is transformed into modal state-space representation, which is almost invariant under balanced reali zation. The ratio of future output energy to pass control input energy unde r state-space representation is chosen as the placement index to design the best placement of energy dissipators. Two types of placement indices are p roposed: one is for a fixed initial condition, and the other is for worst-c ase design, i.e., considering all possible initial conditions. Various conf igurations with different dissipator placements are designed based on the p lacement indices. Numerical results show that these placement indices can b e used as a good design criterion for the placement of linear-friction diss ipators for truss structures with a global property.