Active Control Approach for Reducing Floor Vibrations

Large floor vibration amplitudes can produce disruption and reduced efficiency in employees, and in more extreme cases can result in complete abandonment of a structure for its intended use. The implementation of active control to reduce vibration levels in lightweight floor systems is explored in this paper. A velocity feedback scheme has been developed in which an electromagnetic proof-mass actuator is used to impart control forces on a floor system, thus, reducing the amplitudes of the floor motion. The development, analysis, and experimental verification are discussed for the successful implementation of this control application. A full-scale experimental test floor was designed, constructed, and modeled analytically for this study. Both analytical and experimental results for the floor response to transient excitation show an increase in damping from approximately 2.5% to 40%. Experimental results for walking excitation show a reduction of peak velocity amplitudes to 12% of amplitudes recorded for the uncontrolled system.