Chunggil Kim

Experimental study of the semi-active control of a nonlinear two-span bridge using stochastic optimal polynomial control

This study performs a series of numerical simulations and shake-table experiments to design and assess the performance of a nonlinear clipped feedback control algorithm based on optimal polynomial control (OPC) to mitigate the response of a two-span bridge equipped with a magnetorheological (MR) damper. As an extended conventional linear quadratic regulator, OPC provides more flexibility in the control design and further enhances system performance. The challenges encountered in this case are (1) the linearization of the nonlinear behavior of various components and (2) the selection of the weighting matrices in the objective function of OPC. The first challenge is addressed by using stochastic linearization which replaces the nonlinear portion of the system behavior with an equivalent linear time-invariant model considering the stochasticity in the excitation. Furthermore, a genetic algorithm is employed to find optimal weighting matrices for the control design. The input current to the MR damper installed between adjacent spans is determined using a clipped stochastic optimal polynomial control algorithm. The performance of the controlled system is assessed through a set of shake-table experiments for far-field and near-field ground motions. The proposed method showed considerable improvements over passive cases especially for the far-field ground motion.

Development of a Wireless Unified-Maintenance System for the Structural Health Monitoring of Civil Structures

A disaster preventive structural health monitoring (SHM) system needs to be equipped with the following abilities: First, it should be able to simultaneously measure diverse types of data (e.g., displacement, velocity, acceleration, strain, load, temperature, humidity, etc.) for accurate diagnosis. Second, it also requires standalone power supply to guarantee its immediate response in crisis (e.g., sudden interruption of normal AC power in disaster situations). Furthermore, it should be capable of prompt processing and realtime wireless communication of a huge amount of data. Therefore, this study is aimed at developing a wireless unified-maintenance system (WUMS) that would satisfy all the requirements for a disaster preventive SHM system of civil structures. The WUMS is designed to measure diverse types of structural responses in realtime based on wireless communication, allowing users to selectively use WiFi RF band and finally working in standalone mode by means of the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. To verify its performance, the following tests were performed: (i) A test to see how far communication is possible in open field, (ii) a test on a shaker to see how accurate responses are, (iii) a modal test on a bridge to see how exactly characteristic real-time dynamic responses are of structures. The test results proved that the WUMS was able to secure stable communication far up to nearly 800 m away by acquiring wireless responses in realtime accurately, when compared to the displacement and acceleration responses which were acquired through wired communication. The analysis of dynamic characteristics also showed that the wireless acceleration responses in real-time represented satisfactorily the dynamic properties of structures. Therefore, the WUMS is proved valid as a SHM, and its outstanding performance is also proven.

Research on Hybrid Seismic Response Control System for Motion Control of Two Span Bridge

In this paper, a hybrid seismic response control (HSRC) system was developed to control bridge motion caused by seismic load. It was aimed at optimum vibration control, composed of a rubber bearing of passive type and a MR-damper of semi-active type. The bridge model was built for experiment, a two-span bridge of 8.3 meters in length with the HSRC system put up on it. Then, inflicting El-centro seismic load on it, shaking table tests were carried out to confirm the systems validity. The experiments were conducted under the basic structure state (without an MR-damper applied) first, and then under the state with an MR-damper applied. It was also done under the basic structure state with a reinforced rubber bearing applied, then the passive on/off state of the HSRC system, and finally the semi-active state where the control algorithm was applied to the system. From the experiments, it was observed that collision rather increased when the MR-damper alone was applied, and also that the application of the HSRC system effectively prevented it from occurring. As a result, the HSRC system was proven to be effective in mitigating responses of the two-span bridge under seismic load.

Calculating a MR Damper`s Optimal Capacity for a Control of Structural Vibration

In the case where a MR-damper is employed for vibration control, it is important to decide on how much control capacity should be assigned to it against structural capacities (strength and load, etc). This paper aims to present a MR-dampers control capacity suitable for the capacities of the structure which needs to be controlled. First, a two span bridge was built equipped with a MR-damper, which constitutes a two-span MR-damper control system. Then, inflicting an earthquake load on the system, a basic experiment was performed for vibration control, and a simulation was also carried out reflecting specific control conditions such as MR-damper and rubber bearing. The comparison of the results against each other proved their validity. Then, in order to calculate an optimal control capacity of the MR-damper, structural capacity was divided into eleven cases in total and simulated. For each case, an additional load of 30 KN was inflicted everytime, thereby increasingly strengthening structural capacity. As a result of the study, it was found that the control capacity of MR-damper of 30 KN was safely secured only with lumped mass of more than 150 KN(case 6). Therefore, it is concluded the MR-damper showed the best performance of control when it exerted its capacity at around 20% of structural capacity.

Structural Dynamic Response Compressing Technique in Bridges using a Cochlea-inspired Artificial Filter Bank(CAFB)

In this study, a cochlea-inspired artificial filter bank (CAFB) was developed to efficiently obtain dynamic response of a structure, and a dynamic response measurement of a cable-stayed bridge model was also carried out to evaluate the performance of the developed CAFB. The developed CAFB used a band-pass filter optimizing algorithm (BOA) and peakpicking algorithm (PPA) to select and compress dynamic response signal containing the modal information which was significant enough. The CAFB was then optimized about the El-Centro earthquake wave which was often used in the construction research, and the software implementation of CAFB was finally embedded in the unified structural management system (USMS). For the evaluation of the developed CAFB, a real time dynamic response experiment was performed on a cable-stayed bridge model, and the response of the cable-stayed bridge model was measured using both the traditional wired system and the developed CAFB-based USMS. The experiment results showed that the compressed dynamic response acquired by the CAFB-based USMS matched significantly with that of the traditional wired system while still carrying sufficient modal information of the cable-stayed bridge.