A Benchmark Problem For Response Control of Wind-Excited Tall Buildings

Benchmark Problem- Introduction

A benchmark problem for the response control of a 76-story building was established in December 1997.  The problem package consisted of a model of the 76-story tall building with a height to width ratio of 7.3, a paper describing the problem in MS Word 97 and PDF format and computer programs to perform stochastic and deterministic response analysis.  For the deterministic response analysis, synthetic wind loading sample functions were generated.  The response control performance criterion were formulated in terms of both stochastic and deterministic response quantities.

The effectiveness of control devices and strategies for this benchmark problem were investigated by participants around the world and results were presented in especial sessions during Second World Conference on Structural Control, (Kyoto, Japan, June 28 - July 1, 1998).  Following papers were presented on the benchmark problem for the response control of a 76-story building during the Second World Conference on Structural Control, Kyoto, Japan, June 28-July 1, 1998. 

Session II -- Benchmark Studies of Buildings: active control of wind excited buildings

1.  A Benchmark Problem For Response Control of Wind-Excited Tall Buildings
   J.N. Yang, Department  of  Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Irvine
    J.C. Wu, Department of Civil Engineering, Tamkang University, Taiwan
    B. Samali, School of Civil Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney
    A.K. Agrawal, Department of Civil and  Environmental Engineering, University of California at Irvine

2.  Frequency Domain Optimal Control of the Benchmark Wind-Excited Buildings
    Y. Chi, G. Jin, M.K. Sain, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame
    B.F. Spencer, Jr., Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, University of Notre Dame

3.    Controllers With Quadratic Stability and Performance for the Benchmark Problem of Wind-Excited Tall Buildings
    S. Srivastava, F. Jabbari, W.E. Schmitendoef, Dept. of Mech. and Aerospace Engrg., Univ.  of California, Irvine
    J.N. Yang, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California at Irvine

4.    Sliding Mode control For 76-Story Wind-Excited Benchmark Problem
    J.C. Wu, Department of Civil Engineering, Tamkang University, Taiwan
    J.N. Yang, Department of Civil and  Environmental Engineering, University of California at Irvine

5.  A Hinfinity / µ Robust Vibration Control Method Applied to the Benchmark Building
    T. Watanabe and K. Yoshida, Department of System Design Engineering, Keio University

6.    Output Feedback Sliding Mode Control with Suboptimal Hyperplane to Wind-Excited Tall Building
    Kenzo Nonami, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chiba University
    Kousuke Iwamoto, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Chiba University

Session III -- Benchmark Studies of Buildings: passive and semi-active control of buildings

1.     Passive Damper Control For 76-Story Wind-Excited Benchmark Building
            Agrawal, A.K. and Yang, J.N., Department of Civil & Env.  Engrg.,   Univ. of California,  Irvine

2.    Wind Induced Motion Control of a 76-Story Building by Liquid Dampers
            B. Samali, K. Kwak and H. Gao, School of Civil Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney

3.    Passive Vibration Control Using Joint Damper System for the Benchmark Building
        M. Kageyama and T. Suzuki, Technical Research Institute, Obayashi Corporation
        Kazuto Seto, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nihon University

4.    Damping Design of Multi-Vibration Modes For The Benchmark Problem of Wind-Excited Tall Building
        Kazuto Seto, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nihon University
        Fumio Doi and Yukito Matsumoto, Vibration Control Laboratory

Abstracts of all the papers above can be found at http://www.nd.edu/~quake/benchmarks/bench2conf/.

Please click here to download a copy of the second generation benchmark problem.

Third Generation Benchmark Problem   

    Recently, a wind-tunnel testing was conducted on a 1:400 scale model of the 76-story building to experimentally measure wind-loading time-history.  In the third generation benchmark problem, the response control performance criteria are being reformulated using experimentally measured wind loads.  The paper describing the benchmark problem as well as Matlab based programs and data can be downloaded from this page.

Abstract:

A Benchmark Problem For Response Control of Wind-Excited Tall Buildings

By

J.N. Yang, Professor, Dept. of Civil & Env. Engrg., Univ. of California, Irvine, Irvine, U.S.A.

A.K. Agrawal, Assistant Prof., Dept. of Civil Engrg., The City College of New York, New York

B.Samali, Associate Professor, School of Civil Engrg., Univ. of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

J.C. Wu, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engrg., Tamkang University, Taiwan, ROC.

This paper presents an overview and problem definition of a benchmark problem for the response control of wind-excited tall buildings. The building considered is a 76-story 306 meters concrete office tower proposed for the city of Melbourne, Australia. The building is slender with a height to width ratio of 7.3; hence, it is wind sensitive. Wind tunnel tests for such a 76-story building model have been conducted at the Sydney University and the results of across-wind data are used in the present benchmark problem. Either active, semi-active or passive control systems can be installed in the building to reduce the wind response, although only an active control sample problem has been worked out to illustrate the control design. In the case of active control systems, either an active tuned mass damper (ATMD) or an active mass driver (AMD) can be installed on the top floor. In the case of passive or semi-active systems, such as viscous dampers, visco-elastic dampers, ER/MR dampers, etc., control devices can be installed in selected story units. Control constraints and evaluation criteria are presented for the design problem. A simulation program based on the LQG has been developed and made available for the comparison of the performance of various control strategies.

Data Download:

BENCHMARK PROBLEM PAPER IS BEING PUBLISHED IN THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS, ASCE, SOON.  PLEASE WAIT FOR THE SPECIAL ISSUE FOR A COPY OF THE PAPER.

Benchmark Problem Data & Programs (Windows System, Matlab 5.1 or Higher)

• Benchmark problem data and programs can be used using 5.1 or higher versions.  If you encounter any problem, please let us know.

• If you are using Macintosh or Unix for your computations, you may be able to use the package by transferring the data from a windows or unix system to Macintosh using a File-Transfer utility.  Please let us know if you encounter any problem.

Request: After you have downloaded the data, please click here to send us an e-mail about  your e-mail address and other contact information so that we can contact you about your possible participation in activities related to the benchmark problem.

Important Notes:

1. The PDF file can be viewed and printed using Acrobat Reader 3.0. A free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 for Windows (3.11, 95 or NT), Machintosh and Unix computers can be downloaded from www.adobe.com.    PDF file is platform independent and can be printed from any computer.

2. Matlab software and other tollboxes required for computations can be purchased from Mathworks, Inc.

3. The MS Word and data files for Windows system have been compressed using WinZip utilities. You can download an evaluation version of WinZip  from www.winzip.com.   Please download current version of WinZip to avoid any problems in unzipping data.

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