Robust semi-active control for uncertain structures and smart dampers

Recent developments in semi-active control technology have led to its application in civil infrastructures as an efficient strategy to protect susceptible structures against seismic and wind induced vibration. The reliable and robust performance of semi-active systems depends on the level of uncertainties in the structural parameters as well as on the sensors' measurement and on smart mechanical dampers. A common source of uncertainties in semi-active control devices is related to the inherent nonlinear nature of these devices, thermal variation, or their malfunctioning. This study deals with the robust H∞ control problem and aims to model different sources of uncertainty. The uncertainty of the structural model and damper force are assumed to be norm bounded random variables. By using linear fractional transformation (LFT), the uncertain part of the system is decoupled from the nominal parameters of the system. The robust H∞ controller is designed to achieve consistent performance in structures including nominal and perturbed dynamics. Additionally, to reduce the uncertainty of the damper force, an inverse model of the magnetorheological (MR) damper is developed based on an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The robustness of the proposed algorithm is validated by numerical simulations.