Acceleration feedback control of MDOF structures

To date, most of the current active structural control strategies for aseismic protection have been based on either full-state feedback (i.e., all structural displacements and velocities) or on velocity feedback. However, accurate measurement of displacements and velocities is difficult to achieve directly in full-scale applications, particularly during seismic activity, since the foundation of the structure is moving with the ground. Because accelerometers can readily provide reliable and inexpensive measurement of accelerations at strategic points on the structure, development of control methods based on acceleration feedback is an ideal solution to this problem. The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate experimentally that acceleration feedback-control strategies are effective and robust, and they can achieve performance levels comparable to full-state feedback controllers.