A study on interaction control for seismic response of parallel structures

A structure response control approach which uses controlled interactions be tween two parallel structures (a primary structure and an auxiliary structu re) to reduce the seismic response of the primary structure (P-structure) d uring earthquake excitation, is proposed. Three strategies of the control a pproach, including optimal passive control, semiactive control, and active control are examined. The optimum passive-coupling elements between tw para llel structures under different circumstances are firstly investigated. The n, emphasis has been placed on the derivation of a simple effective algorit hm for semi-active control which guarantees the power absorption of the req uired control force from the P-structure at every time step. Finally, numer ical results in the frequency and time domains are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of these proposed control strategies. The comparison of the structure response time histories when subjected to El Centro 1940 grou nd excitation with different control methods also illustrates that the semi -active control based on optimum passive coupling element can achieve impro vement in reducing the response of P-structure compared to the passive cont rol and is almost comparable to the active control system with the same deg ree of magnitude of control force, and that the proposed instantaneous powe r absorption semi-active control algorithm is always superior to convention al linear control law. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.