LQR for State-Bounded Structural Control

Abstract

In order to prevent structural damages, it is more important to bound the vibration amplitude than to reduce the vibration energy. However, in the performance index for linear quadratic regulator (LQR), the instantaneous amplitude of vibration is not minimized. An ordinary LQR may have an unacceptable amplitude at some time instant but still have a good performance. In this paper, we have developed an LQR with adjustable gains to guarantee bounds on the vibration amplitude. For scalar systems, the weighting for control is switched between two values which give a low-gain control when the amplitude is inside the bound and a high-gain control when the amplitude is going to violate the given bound. For multivariable systems, by assuming a matching condition, a similar controller structure has been obtained. This controller is favored for application since the main structure of a common LQR is not changed; the additional high-gain control is required only if the vibration amplitude fails to stay inside the bound. We have applied this controller to a five-story building with active tendon controllers. The results show that the largest oscillation at the first story stays within a given bound when the building is subject to earthquake excitation.