Active Interaction Control of Tall Buildings Subjected to Near-Field Ground Motions

Abstract

Near-field earthquake ground motions may contain distinctive coherent velocity pulses. Strong ground motions with such large velocity pulses can be damaging to structures located within the near-field region. A class of semiactive control algorithms referred to as active interaction control (AIC) have been developed as a means of suppressing the vibration of building structures during moderate to large earthquakes. Modal response-based AIC control approaches have been shown to be effective in suppressing the vibrations of building structures subjected to far-field ground motions in previous studies. Unlike the resonant modelike response of structures subjected to more randomlike far-field ground motion, it is believed that a wave propagation behavior will control the structural response at least for the first few cycles of reflection under the action of near-field ground motions with coherent velocity pulses. To verify the effectiveness of the AIC control approaches in the case of near-field ground motions, a numerical simulation for a 20-story steel-framed building subjected to a sample of near-field ground motions, has been performed and the results are presented in this paper.