Structural control performance of a force-constrained tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer using model predictive control with acceleration feedback

Abstract The tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD), composed of an inerter, a tuning spring, and a damping component, has emerged in recent years as one of the most successful structural control devices. The TVMD efficiently absorbs vibration energy through the damping component by resonating the inerter with the tuning spring. However, concerns have been raised regarding the excessive reaction forces that are exerted on the primary structure by the TVMD, potentially leading to structural damage. To address this issue, this study proposes an active control strategy that employs a tuned inertial mass electromagnetic transducer (TIMET). The TIMET has the same configuration as the TVMD but replaces the damping component with an electromagnetic motor, which is controlled by using a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm with acceleration feedback. To evaluate the structural control performance and the control force generated by the proposed strategy, a numerical example involving a five-story shear building model with TIMETs installed between floors is presented. Comparative analyses are conducted using models lacking control devices but including TVMDs, subjected to four earthquake records. The results demonstrate that the force-constrained MPC strategy effectively limits the control forces of the TIMETs, while simultaneously reducing the response displacements and accelerations of the primary structure.