Decentralized Wireless Sensing and Control of Civil Structures

DECENTRALIZED WIRELESS SENSING AND CONTROL OF CIVIL STRUCTURES Yang Wang , R. Andrew Swartz , Jerome P. Lynch , Kincho H. Law , Kung-Chun Lu , Chin-Hsiung Loh c a Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA 94305, USA b Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA c Dept. of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan Univ., Taipei, Taiwan * Correspondence Author: Prof. Kincho H. Law Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-4020, USA Tel. (650) 725-3154 Fax. (650) 723-7514 E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper discusses the potential use of wireless communication and embedded computing technologies for structural control applications. Specifically, control strategies based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) algorithms are explored to assess the issues and performance for a prototype wireless structural sensing and control system. The system computes control decisions based on decentralized output feedback. The performance of this prototype system is first validated in shake table experiments using a half-scale three-story steel structure instrumented with three magnetorheological dampers, which are commanded by the prototype wireless sensing and control units. The experiments validate the effectiveness of the decentralized output feedback control algorithm. Further numerical simulations are conducted using the structural models of a 5-story and a 20-story structure controlled by ideal actuators and semi-active hydraulic dampers. The simulation analyses are intended to study the effects of communication latencies and degrees of centralization on control performance. Experimental and numerical results demonstrate that decentralized wireless control is viable for future structural control systems.