Nonlinear Structural Control Using Magnetorheological Damper

This chapter provides an introduction to semi active control of base isolated buildings using magnetorheological (MR) dampers. Recently developed nonlinear control algorithms are discussed. First a fuzzy logic control (FLC) is designed to decide how much voltage is required to be supplied to the MR damper for a desired structural response. The FLC is optimized using micro genetic algorithm. A novel geometric approach is developed to optimize the FLC rule base. Experiments are undertaken to access the efficacy of the optimal FLC. Secondly the chapter develops two model based control algorithms based on dynamic inversion and integrator backstepping approaches. A three storey base isolated building is used for experimental and numerical studies. A numerical comparison is shown with clipped optimal control.