An acceleration controller for an electrodynamic shaking table is presented. It is designed for experimental investigations of small-scale civil engineering structures subject to earthquake excitations. For obtaining excellent tracking performance over a wide frequency range a robust control algorithm is proposed which ensures that the amplitude of the random excitation is equal to the reference signal. The well known interaction problem between the shaking table and the structural model is integrated in the controller design making the experimental setup appropriate for a variety of structural models. Theoretical basis, practical considerations and implementation of the proposed controller is described in detail. Good acceleration control characteristics of the designed shaking table is demonstrated by experimental results.
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