Implementation, Verification and Application of Real-time Hybrid Simulation

This dissertation presents the implementation, verification and application of a state of the art dynamic testing method, namely the real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) technique, using two cost-effective and reliable computational/control platforms. RTHS is a practical and economical experimental technique that complements the realism of physical testing with the power of numerical simulation. In this method, by dividing the structure into two parts, known as the experimental and analytical substructures, and synchronizing them, the equations of motion are solved in real-time, thus capturing the load-rate dependencies in an accurate manner. In the first part of the dissertation, the RTHS method is implemented using a small-scale shaker available for research and education. The implementation of the method is followed by the verification experiments to assure the reliability of the RTHS platform. As an application example, this platform is utilized to investigate the dynamic behavior of structures equipped with tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) in small scale. The second part of the dissertation presents a user re-configurable computational/control platform developed to conduct RTHS. The architecture of this platform is based upon the integration of a real-time controller and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). This not only enables the user to apply user-defined control laws to control the experimental substructures, but also provides ample computational resources to run the integration and analytical substructure state determination algorithms in real-time. After the presentation of the hardware design and software development details, the platform is validated experimentally. The effect of force measurement errors on the RTHS results is the next topic discussed in this dissertation. An application example of the developed platform that investigates the performance of different structural systems equipped with large-scale TLDs is presented. Additionally, further developments on the inner loop control as well as outer loop computations are accomplished in collaboration with other researchers.Ph.D