Experimental verifications of H_∞ and sliding mode control for seismically excited buildings

Recently, H_∞and sliding mode control methods have been investigated for applications to active/ hybrid control of seismically excited structures. Numerical simulation results indicate that both control methods are quite promising for civil engineering applications. In the present paper, shaking table experimental tests were conducted to verify the H_∞ and continuous sliding mode control methods. The test structure used was the three-story 1/4-scaled building model, equipped with an active tendon control system, which was used extensively at the State University of New York, Buffalo. Different earthquake records were used as the input excitations, including the El Centro, Pacoima, Hachinohe, and Taft. Both the full-state feedback controllers and the static output feedback controllers were used. Experimental data correlate satisfactorily with numerical simulation results. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the H_∞ and continuous sliding mode control methods, in particular the static output feedback controllers using only the measured information from a limited number of sensors installed at strategic locations without an observer, are quite promising for practical implementations of active control systems on seismically excited structures.