Verification of a Stiffness-Variable Control System with Feed-Forward Predictive Earthquake Energy Analysis

Semi-active isolation systems with controllable stiffness have been widely developed in the field of seismic mitigation. Most systems with controllable stiffness perform more robustly and effectively for far-field earthquakes than for near-fault earthquakes. Consequently, a comprehensive system that provides comparable reductions in seismic responses to both near-fault and far-field excitations is required. In this regard, a new algorithm called Feed-Forward Predictive Earthquake Energy Analysis (FPEEA) is proposed to identify the ground motion characteristics of and reduce the structural responses to earthquakes. The energy distribution of the seismic velocity spectrum is considered, and the balance between the kinetic energy and potential energy is optimized to reduce the seismic energy. To demonstrate the performance of the FPEEA algorithm, a two-degree-of-freedom structure was used as the benchmark in the numerical simulation. The peak structural responses under two near-fault and far-field earthquakes of different earthquake intensities were simulated. The isolation layer displacement was suppressed most by the FPEEA, which outperformed the other three control methods. Moreover, superior control on superstructure acceleration was also supported by the FPEEA. Experimental verification was then conducted with shaking table test, and the satisfactory performance of the FPEEA on both isolation layer displacement and superstructure acceleration was demonstrated again. In summary, the proposed FPEEA has potential for practical application to unexpected near-fault and far-field earthquakes.