Optimum fuzzy sliding mode semi-active control of structures subjected to earthquakes

Abstract

This paper presents a design procedure for a class of optimized semi-active controllers for structures subjected to seismic activity. The structure is controlled through a single force applied to a controllable electromagnetic damper placed on the first storey of the structure. The restraining control force is computed in real-time using a fuzzy sliding mode control algorithm. The parameters of the controller are optimized using a global stochastic search based on the Metropolis simulated annealing algorithm. The resultant disturbance mitigation of the proposed controller has been verified through extensive simulation of a multi-storey structure using realistic earthquake data.

In this paper a new form of semi-active controller is proposed. The proposed fuzzy sliding mode controller possesses three parameters whose optimum values are computed using simulated annealing. Through simulation of a six storey structure subjected to known earthquake tremors it is shown that the performance of the proposed controller is superior to other semi-active control scheme that have been proposed thus far.