These papers present an overview and problem definition for two benchmark structural control problems. The first structure considered - chosen because of the widespread interest in this class of systems - is a scale model of a three-story building employing an active mass driver (AMD) in the Structural Dynamics and Control / Earthquake Engineering Laboratory (SDC/EEL) at the University of Notre Dame. The second structure examined is the three-story, tendon-controlled structure at the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) in Buffalo, New York. The purpose of formulating these benchmark problems is to provide another setting in which to evaluate the relative effectiveness and implementability of various structural control algorithms.
To achieve a high level of realism, evaluation models for these structural system, including the actuator and sensors, has been developed directly from experimentally obtained data and form the basis for the benchmark study. In general, controllers that are successfully implemented on the evaluation model can be expected to perform similarly in the laboratory setting. Control constraints and evaluation criteria are presented for the design problems. Simulation programs have been developed and made available to facilitate direct comparison of the efficiency and merit of various control strategies. A sample control design for the AMD problem is given to illustrate some of the design challenges.
