Control of Tall Buildings Under Earthquake Excitation

A method of analysis for tall buildings implemented by active control systems and excited by earthquake ground motions is proposed. The effectiveness of the active mass damper and the active tendon system is investigated. Demonstrations show that both control systems can be used to substantially reduce the response of tall buildings under strong earthquake excitations, if the control parameters are designed appropriately. The control law suggested herein is referred to as the semi-active control in the sense that on-line computations to regulate active control forces are not needed. Thus, the control systems investigated are more reliable, although the control law is not optimal. Numerical examples for two tall buildings are worked out to demonstrate the feasibility of active control systems.