Control Theory for Optimizing Supplemental Energy Dissipation Devices and Developing Active Control Algorithms

Assaf Shmerling, PhD

Ben-Gurion University of Negev

Friday, September 20, 2024 | 11:00 a.m. | 140 Ketter Hall

Building design addresses the structure's ability to carry its gravitational loads and withstand horizontal excitations such as winds or earthquakes. However, during their lifetime, buildings may counter earthquakes or winds of greater magnitudes and different frequencies than considered in the design stage – causing significant damage or collapse. This seminar lecture presents and describes the methodologies used to integrate control theory into the design stage to optimize the structural system under drastic dynamic loading and allocate energy dissipation devices that may have passive or semi-active configurations. Passive devices are reliable and have stable performance but are designated to handle an estimated loading magnitude. Semi-active control systems, on the other hand, can make the lateral-load resisting system more robust and adjustable to the varying load types. By definition, semi-active control systems affect the damping or vibration period of the structure while not requiring a significant power source and a functioning computer station. This lecture proposes an active control algorithm that can be used to control semi-active systems. The active control algorithm is examined to regulate the dynamic response of a structure equipped with a semi-active fluid viscous damper and a semi-active pendulum vibration absorber system.

Assaf Shmerling studied Structural Engineering at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and graduated in 2011. He worked for one year as a civil engineer at YSS—Consulting Engineers Ltd, and then he resumed his academic career - receiving his doctoral degree in 2016. After two years of post-doctoral research, he joined the academic staff of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Assaf Shmerling was a visiting professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany, from 2020 to 2021. Among his professional activities in his country, he is a member and a delegate of the Israeli Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE), Israeli Association for Computational Methods in Mechanics (IACMM), and Israeli Association of Construction & Infrastructure Engineers (IACIE).