Control of Building Vibration Against Earthquakes

An aseismic hybrid control system was employed to protect a five-storey benchmark-building model against strong earthquakes. The hybrid control system consists of a base isolation system (laminated rubber bearings) connected to an active control system (a tuned mass damper and an actuator). A five-storey benchmark model is developed to study the effectiveness of the hybrid control system against different ground motions: El-Centro 1940, Hachinohe 1968, Kobe 1995, and Northridge 1994 earthquakes. It was found from the numerical results, that the rubber bearing system alone can perform well against Hachinohe and Northridge ground motions, but not well enough to protect the lower floors of the model against El-Centro and Kobe ground motions. After an active control system was implemented to the rubber-isolated model, further improvements in earthquake resistance against these four earthquakes were obtained, especially against the El-Centro and Kobe. It is shown that a combined use of active and passive control systems, (referred to as hybrid control system), is more effective in reducing the building response under strong earthquakes