Simultaneous Online Damage Detection and Vibration Control of Structures Using Synchronization and Semi-Active Control

In this paper, a smart structure is developed by integrating a semi-active control strategy with an online synchronization-based damage detection method. In this algorithm, the structural damages are identified in real-time with the synchronization-based method using displacement and velocity measurements of the structure. Then, a fuzzy logic controller is applied for determination of the control forces according to the occurrence of damages. A five-story linear shear building equipped with magneto-rheological (MR) dampers is studied numerically to verify the performance and efficiency of the proposed integrated method for both damage detection and vibration suppression. One damage scenario and four earthquake records are used for such purpose. Results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has the capability of identifying structural damages satisfactorily while exerting suitable control forces to compensate for the damages occurrence and mitigating the dynamic responses of the structure. Furthermore, it is shown that in comparison with the long-established method of only vibration control, the total energy consumption is significantly reduced, an issue of concern in optimal control of structures.