Seismic response control of a complex structure using semi-active friction dampers

Mitigating seismic responses of adjacent buildings by using control devices linked the two buildings has been recognized as a feasible alternative control scheme in past decade. A numbers of research studies have been undertaken in revealing and comparing the control capability among passive, active and semi-active control strategies employed in the coupled building system. The general interest and intention for the coupling control approach are mainly placed on the adjacent high-rise structures, and the LQ control algorithm relying on feedback with multiple measurement points is also the major design preference. This paper will focus on evaluating the effectiveness of controllable friction dampers as coupling devices that are implemented with semi-active control strategy based on local response feedback for a coupled podium structure and medium-rise building system. The effect of the height, mass and stiffness of two semi-actively controlled structures is one of the investigations. A comparison on control performance by a proposed semi-active control strategy with passive and clipped optimal control strategy is also presented. It is shown that control strategy with local response feedback can provide increased control performance over the passive strategy, and it is also of similar efficiency compared to the clipped optimal control strategy.