Seismic Vibration Control of 3D Steel Frames with Irregular Plans Using Eccentrically Placed MR Dampers

Abstract: There has been a significant increase in attention toward designing smart structures and vibration control of structures in recent decades, and numerous methods and algorithms have been developed and experimentally investigated. However, the majority of these studies used the shear frame models to represent structures. Since the simplified models do not reflect the realistic behavior of those structures with irregularity in plan and elevation, the traditional methods for designing an optimal control that guarantees a desirable performance is impossible. In this study, the behavior of a 10-story irregular steel frame building is investigated with and without controlling systems. Two pairs of eccentrically placed MR dampers on each story are used in order to mitigate the coupled translational–torsional vibration. The controlling forces are determined using active, passive-off, passive-on, and clipped optimal controls based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) algorithm. The results demonstrate that using pairs of magneto-rheological (MR) dampers with an appropriate distance on lower story levels significantly reduces the inter-story drifts for the corner columns, as well as the roof displacements and accelerations.