Output feedback sliding mode control of base isolated structures

The paper addresses the problem of designing stabilizing output feedback co ntrollers for a class of nonlinear seismically excited base isolated struct ures with unknown parametrical uncertainties. Two types (non-adaptive and a daptive) of sliding mode controllers are presented, In both schemes, only t he information on the displacements and velocities of the base and the firs t floor is used in the controller design. A numerical example is given to i llustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy to a 10-storey frictio nal base isolated structure being subject to the El Centro earthquake. (C) 2000 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.