A nonlinear structural experiment platform with adjustable plastic hinges: analysis and vibration control

摘要

The construction of an experimental nonlinear structural model with little cost and unlimited repeatability for vibration control study represents a challenging task, especially for material nonlinearity. This paper reports the design, analysis and vibration control of a nonlinear structural experiment platform with adjustable hinges. In our approach, magnetorheological rotary brakes are substituted for the joints of a frame structure to simulate the nonlinear material behaviors of plastic hinges. For vibration control, a separate magnetorheological damper was employed to provide semi-active damping force to the nonlinear structure. A dynamic neural network was designed as a state observer to enable the feedback based semi-active vibration control. Based on the dynamic neural network observer, an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode based output control was developed for the magnetorheological damper to suppress the vibrations of the structure. The performance of the intelligent control algorithm was studied by subjecting the structure to shake table experiments. Experimental results show that the magnetorheological rotary brake can simulate the nonlinearity of the structural model with good repeatability. Moreover, different nonlinear behaviors can be achieved by controlling the input voltage of magnetorheological rotary damper. Different levels of nonlinearity in the vibration response of the structure can be achieved with the above adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control algorithm using a dynamic neural network observer.