515

Control of vibration in civil structures

K Seto
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Technology, 1-8 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, Japan. E-mail: seto@mech.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp

Abstract: This paper reports recent trends in active vibration control mainly as developed in Japan
for civil structures. Firstly, it classifies vibration control methods and controllers, especially active
dynamic absorbers that are widely used in mechanical and civil engineering. Secondly, it addresses
basic problems in the control of vibration of flexible structures such as formulating the reduced-
order model required for designing vibration controllers, the correct arranging of sensors and
actuators, and how to prevent spillover instability. Finally, the practical use of control theories such
as linear–quadratic control theory, H control theory, neural network theory and other topics are
2
discussed.

Keywords: active vibration control, vibration controller, control theory, modelling, sensor and actuator

1 INTRODUCTION method for controlling vibration. Although lighter-weight

Vibration control prevents resonance and unstable
vibration, as well as instigating quick suppression of
transient vibration by complementing the shortage of
internal damping from the outside or by generating
internally a force that cancels external forces. As a con-
ventional vibration control method, passive-type vibration
control has been the main focus and does not complement
any energy feeding from the outside. The first active
vibration control device introduced in Japan was com-
posed of a sensor and a controller in the form of a servo
damper. The control method was proposed in 1970 by
Tominari et al. to prevent the chattering vibration of
machine tools [1]. The servo damper was followed by a
torsion servo damper devised by Okada and Nakada [2].
Tanaka et al. sought to establish a control system design
method for a servo damper incorporating modern control
theory [3]. While this method proved to have excellent
vibration-controlling performance, it was not adopted in
practical applications because it was not easily understood
and lacked reliability.
Active vibration control has recently become a key
technology for maintaining and enhancing the capability,
performance and dwelling properties across a wide range
of engineering fields [4, 5]. For example, with industrial
robots, lighter weight, energy savings, higher speeds and
greater accuracy are increasingly demanded. An obstacle
to achieving such properties is the availability of light
and flexible arms, creating the need to devise a practical
The MS was received on 8 September 2003 and was accepted after
revision for publication on 4 August 2004.
I08803 © IMechE 2004
bodies are needed to decrease consumption in auto-
mobiles, it becomes necessary to control the vibration of
these somewhat elastic automobile bodies. Increasingly
lighter and taller buildings have been constructed to meet
demands for lower costs. Such buildings involve the issue
of swaying caused by strong winds. Behind this recent
activity of research could be the fact that the modern
control theory has before been considered difficult to
understand and thus not likely to be put to practical
application, but recently it has become applicable to con-
trol system design because of ongoing research, advances
in computer application techniques and the appearance
of effective software packages such as MATLAB.
The dynamic behaviours of systems to be vibration
controlled have come to be analysed in detail, experi-
mentally as well as theoretically [6 ] and the introduction
of a fast Fourier transform (FFT ) analyser has enabled
easier examination of vibration control results. These
remarkable advances in hardware and software can be
itemized as follows:
(a) development of software for control system design;
(b) provision of high-speed computers and the intro-
duction of digital signal processes (DSPs), etc.;
(c) development of new active vibration control devices
and actuators;
(d) advance in the computer aided vibration analysing
methods and experimental modal analysers;
(e) appearance of a new control system design method.
In this paper, control devices whose design methods
have been developed are presented as active devices.
Current trends and the complex problems of active
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516
vibration control are described. A procedure for making
a reduced-order model for flexible structure is presented.
Finally, the results from applications of newly released
and recently trialed control system design methods
including improved versions of the linear–quadratic (LQ)
control theory, H control theory, sliding-mode con-
2
trol and neural networks, are presented. Further, recent
developments in simultaneous control of motion and
vibration will be introduced.
2 ACTIVE VIBRATION CONTROLLER
2.1 Classification of vibration controllers
The main purpose of vibration control is to stabilize a
controlled object, where a high reliability is required in
a vibration control device. Passive vibration control
devices have traditionally been used, because they do
not require an energy feed and are therefore free from
the risk of generating unstable states. However, passive
vibration control devices have no sensors and cannot
respond to variation in parameters of the controlled
object or controlling device. This has resulted in the
evolution of a new type of vibration control device called
an active vibration controller, which is equipped with
sensors, an actuator and a controller that requires power.
Therefore, the vibration controllers are roughly classified
Fig. 1 Classification of vibration methods
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K SETO
into passive, semiactive, active and hybrid types. In order
for the actuator to generate a vibration control force, it
is necessary for it in some way to receive a reaction force,
since action is followed by reaction. Vibration control
methods are also classified according to the way that the
reaction force is received [7]. The classes are as follows:
(a) method 1 using the reaction of a fixed point;
(b) method 2 using the reaction of an auxiliary mass;
(c) method 3 using the reaction of an auxiliary structure.
Figure 1 indicates a schematic view of the vibration
control methods. The controlled objects are simplified
into systems with one degree of freedom (DOF ).
Method 1 allows for the simplest construction of a
control system of the three methods, provided that there
is a fixed point near the actuator’s mounting point. For
instance, active vibration isolation systems and active
suspension systems for cars fall into this category. If
there is a fixed point to mount the actuator, this method
is applicable. Precision vibration control techniques to
isolate environmental vibrations based on this method
will be applicable in many fields, particularly in pro-
cessing facilities for extra-precision measurement using
laser devices [8], active suspensions of vehicles [9], micro-
gravity environments, etc. However, if a fixed point is
not readily available for mounting the actuator, then one
of the other two methods will be needed to receive the
reaction force.
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Method 2 uses the reaction inertia force of an auxiliary is architecturally preferred, it is structurally weak because
mass to produce a vibration control force in an actuator. of its susceptibility to strong winds. By placing an active
Several types of dynamic absorber that use this method vibration control device in the upper portion of the two
are in wide use in the field of engineering, since it has buildings as shown in Fig. 2b, vibrations generated by
the advantage of the actuator being able be mounted at wind excitation, the Kallman vortex, are eliminated.
any point. Method 2 is classified, as shown in Fig. 1, Method 3 is also classified, as shown in Fig. 1, into
into passive, semiactive, active and hybrid types. In the passive, semiactive, active and hybrid types. The active
field of mechanical engineering, the passive type is and hybrid types are proposed by the present author,
generally called a dynamic absorber and can achieve an and this method is called the connected control method
excellent controlling effect by keeping three elements, (CCM ). An application of this method is shown later.
namely the mass, the spring and the damper, in optimum
adjustment [10, 11]. In the field of civil engineering, this
is called a tuned mass damper. However, since the 2.2 Construction of active dynamic absorber
dynamic absorber does not have its own sensors, it
The advantages of the active dynamic absorber are that
cannot adapt to changes in the characteristics, if any, in
its vibration control effect is not only excellent and
the control object or in itself, and it often has difficulty
robust, but it is able to on its own control the vibration
effectively controlling the vibration. This problem is
of many-DOF systems [13].
particularly serious where the mass ratio is small. There
The active dynamic absorber is formed by substituting
are two ways to solve this problem. One way is to
the damper of the dynamic absorber with an actuator that
change the characteristics of the spring or the damper
is controlled by a sensor and a controller. Because the
of the passive dynamic absorber, and to ensure that
auxiliary mass is driven by an active device, it is called
the optimum adjustment condition is maintained. This
an active mass. Hydraulic-type active dynamic absorbers
method is called a semiactive dynamic absorber, although
are applicable to vibration control of a control object
fundamentally it belongs to the passive-type category.
that requires a powerful but compact vibration controller.
The other way is to use an active dynamic absorber with
To eliminate self-exciting chatter vibration occurring in
controller, sensors and actuators. In the field of civil
machine tools, an active dynamic absorber called a servo
engineering, active and hybrid types are called an active
damper shown in Fig. 3 has been proposed [1].
mass damper (AMD) and a hybrid mass damper (HMD)
A typical active dynamic absorber linearly driven by
respectively.
an electromagnetic force and its control system are shown
Method 3 generates a control force with an actuator
in Fig. 4. Based on the driving method of the auxiliary
mounted on a structure located parallel to the flexible
structure, to control the vibration of that structure.
An application of this system is shown in Fig. 2 [12].
The control device can be easily constructed, because it
only requires insertion of an actuator between the two
structures. Figure 2a illustrates adjacent but independently
constructed multi-storey buildings. Although this design

Fig. 3 Schematic view of a servo damper

Fig. 2 Plan of the method that uses the reaction of an auxiliary Fig. 4 Active dynamic absorber driven by an electromagnetic
structure force

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518 K SETO

Fig. 5 Landmark Tower equipped with two HMDs ( left) and the outside view (right)

mass, linear drive and motor drive systems are avail-

able. The former method directly moves the auxiliary
mass, and the latter indirectly moves the auxiliary mass
by rotating the ball screw with a servo motor [14].
From the method of supporting the auxiliary mass, the
spring, guide and pendulum supports can be ascertained.
Frequently, an active mass is supported without friction.
Typical examples include a guide roller, pendulum and
spring support.
Recently, a number of high-rise buildings (over 60)
and huge bridge towers equipped with AMDs or HMDs
have been constructed in Japan [15]. Although active
vibration control techniques have been actively sought
as countermeasures against strong winds, some problems Fig. 6 Multi-step pendulum-type HMD
remain unresolved in respect of their reliability and
energy savings. A practical solution to this problem is
the hybrid vibration control method, which combines Tower. A hanging pendulum is driven by a motor
both passive and active vibration control mechanisms operating linearly and independently in two horizontal
into a single control unit. For example, the Yokohama directions. It is possible to tune the natural frequency of
Landmark Tower (the building 300 m high shown in the pendulum to that of the building. An important
Fig. 5) was completed in 1993 adopting this hybrid feature of the arrangement is the compact multi-step
method. An HMD arranges an actuator and a damper pendulum to tune the natural frequencies of the tower.
in parallel. Because vibration energy is absorbed by the The counter-electromotive force produced by the rotation
damper, to a certain degree some reliability is ensured, of the motor serves as a damper.
even though a failure could be generated by an active Figure 7 illustrates a system with an active mass,
system. Two recent applications are presented by way of which is formed by cutting the arc of a circle and driven
example. by a servo motor [17]. Because the motions of an arc of
a circle have a constant period, the natural frequency
of the mass can be set to any value through proper
2.3 Examples of application in structural control selection of the radius L. The application of damping in
the direction of motion forms a hybrid vibration control
2.3.1 Wind excitation control for buildings using HMD
device that consists of motor drives and damping forces.
Figure 6 shows the outline of the vibration control The counter-electromotive force of the motor serves as
device [16 ] incorporated in the Yokohama Landmark a damper. In addition, passive operation is provided in
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 CONTROL OF VIBRATION IN CIVIL STRUCTURES
Fig. 7 Roller guide-type HMD
the event of power failure. Figure 8 shows an improved
HMD called a V-shaped HMD, because the radius L is
selected by changing the angle of the V-shaped rail.
Tokyo Park Tower is equipped with three of this type
of HMD [18].
2.3.2 Active vibration control of large bridge towers
under construction
Active vibration control of large bridge towers while
under construction is a common practice in Japan [15]
to reduce the risk of destruction by strong winds during
the course of construction and is shown in Fig. 9a. For
the purpose, AMDs and HMDs are commonly applied.
Once the bridge towers are connected by a suspension
rope, the vibration controllers have finished their job
and are removed, as shown in Fig. 9b.
As a tendency to construct more reliable but lighter
towers increases, it becomes insufficient to consider just
the first mode, since vibrations of higher modes also raise
problems regarding structural strength. Generally these
flexible towers are distributed parameter systems and, to
design a feedback controller for such a system using
linear control theory, it is necessary to obtain a suitable
reduced-order model by neglecting high-frequency modes.
Fig. 8 Outside view of a V-shaped HMD used in Tokyo Park
Tower, which has three of this type of HMD
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519
2.3.3 Vibration control of triple towers using the
connected control method
An outline of Harumi Triton Square is sketched in
Fig. 10. The triple towers are denoted X, Y and Z in
order of height and are arranged at 45° to tower Y.
Towers X, Y and Z are 200, 175 and 145 m in height,
with 45, 39 and 30 storeys respectively. At the design
stage, it became clear that a complex vortex excitation
from winds was of concern at the first bending mode of
the triple towers [19].
To control the first bending mode of each tower, it
was necessary to use two AMDs, for the two directions;
therefore, in total, six AMDs would be required if a
conventional system was employed. Using our proposed
CCM, the minimum requirements are two controlled
bridges (devices). The company made a decision to use
the CCM and the two controlled bridges as shown in
Fig. 11. Tower X is connected with tower Y by one of the
controlled bridges at the 39th storey. Similarly tower Z
is connected with tower Y at the 30th storey. Each tower
independently gains control force in two directions,
x and y.
The actual active controlled bridges were designed and
developed by Ishikawajima Heavy Industry [20]. The
construction is schematically shown in Fig. 11. An active
controlled bridge consists of an outer tube, an inner tube,
a slide guide between each tube, a two-bowl-screws
driving mechanism and two a.c. servomotors. The a.c.
servomotors, mounted one to the upper side and one to
the lower of the inner tube, drive the bowl screw to move
the outer tube in a forward and back direction. Therefore
both ends of the tube are expanded and contracted by
the active control of the a.c. servomotors. Since both
ends of the tube are connected between the two towers
through bowl joints, these towers are moved smoothly.
An outside view of the active controlled bridge con-
necting towers Y and Z is shown in Fig. 11. The first
triple-towers complex connected with two active con-
trolled bridges using our proposed CCM was realized in
downtown Tokyo in 2001, as shown in Fig. 12.
3 IMPORTANT ITEMS FOR ACTIVE VIBRATION
CONTROL
Interesting examples of recent applications of active
vibration control include:
(a) vibration control of flexible robot manipulators [21];
(b) active vibration control of elastic automobile bodies
[22];
(c) swing control of high-rise buildings and bridge towers
[23, 24];
(d) control of flexible rotors with magnetic bearings
[25, 26 ];
(e) vibration control of large space structures [27].
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520 K SETO

(a) Towers standing independently (b) Towers connected by a suspension rope

Fig. 9 Suspension bridge under construction

Fig. 10 The outline of Harumi Triton Square

Fig. 11 Schematic view of an active controlled bridge and an outside view of the active controlled bridge
connecting towers Y and Z

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 CONTROL OF VIBRATION IN CIVIL STRUCTURES
Fig. 12 Outside view of the triple tower connected by active bridges
Vibration control of flexible structures have common
problems. When active vibration control of flexible
structure is sought, three items must be individually
considered:
(a) problem of creating reduced-order models;
(b) placement of sensors and actuators;
(c) countermeasures for spillover.
3.1 Spillover
A problem that goes with reduced-order modelling of a
structure in active control is the spillover problem. It is
the phenomenon of interference between the controlled
modes and the omitted, uncontrolled, higher modes.
Figure 13 illustrates this relationship. In Fig. 13, the sub-
script C refers to the controlled modes and the subscript
R to the uncontrolled residual modes. While injecting
control energy to the controlled modes, an actuator may
also excite higher modes that are not modelled for con-
trol. This is called control spillover. On the other hand,
sensors may pick up information related to both the
Fig. 13 Control and observation spillovers
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521
controlled and the uncontrolled modes; spillover thus
caused is called observation spillover.
In Fig. 14, an example of spillover is shown by
an impulse response and a frequency response experi-
mentally obtained on a flexible structure, where the first
two modes are to be controlled and those above the third
modes (including this mode) are not controlled. While
vibration from the first two modes decays quickly under
the control, the vibration of the fourth mode grows with
time, leading to spillover. Naturally, spillover is a very
dangerous phenomenon that can cause local damage
or even destroy whole structures. Therefore, avoiding or
suppressing spillover is a very important task to achieve
successful control.
There are various ways to prevent spillover from
occurring:
(a) modal filtering method;
(b) direct feedback method;
(c) low-pass filter method;
(d) robust control method.
These main methods can be summarized as follows.
The first method was initially proposed by Balas [28]
and is based on separating the information of the con-
trolled modes from that of the uncontrolled modes. This
method requires the same number of sensors and actuators
as that of the controlled modes. The second method was
also proposed by Balas [29] and requires placing sensors
and actuators at the same locations (collocation). While
the stability of the control system is guaranteed, great
control effects cannot be expected. The third method
uses low-pass filter to cut off either the pick-up signals
or the actuation forces in order to suppress the effects
of the higher uncontrolled modes. It is simple but often
fails to control multiple modes where modal frequencies
are not sparsely spaced. An improvement on this method
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522
Fig. 14 Example of spillover
is introduced in section 3.2 that follows. The fourth
method is fairly new and has been rapidly developed in
recent years; this method is further discussed later in
this paper.
3.2 The lumped modelling method
3.2.1 An idea crucial for deriving a reduced-order
physical model [30, 31]
As shown in the previous section, for a lumped-parameter
system, designing a controller in a physical state space
is straightforward. Unfortunately, most structures are
distributed in nature and cannot be regarded as lumped
parameter systems. The modelling method presented
in this paper, called the reduced-order physical model
method (Seto’s method), makes a lumped-parameter
model of a distributed structure and designs a controller
in a physical state space where the states are directly
measurable. The method differs from the usually employed
modal-space control method [32, 33] in which modal state
estimation is necessary, or the so-called direct output
feedback control in which sensors are collocated with
the actuators and a given actuator force is a function
of the sensor output at the same point. The proposed
method and the skills required for it are not difficult
in practice, as verified by experiments in controlling
Fig. 15 Relationships between controllability/observability and locations of sensors and actuators
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K SETO
multiple modes of flexible structures. For this purpose,
a multi-DOF lumped-mass model is derived. Based on
this reduced-order physical model, a feedback controller
is designed utilizing filtered LQ control and the H -based
2
control law. In this section, such a method previously
described by the present author is introduced.
The first step of this method involves the deter-
mination of the number and positions of the modelling
points. This profoundly relates to the controllability
and observability problem. It is well known that a
controller design in a state space is only meaningful
when the system is observable and controllable. For
distributed systems, it is not easy to judge this by any
well-established algebraic method. The present author
has thus proposed a simple method to achieve this by
examining the mode shapes of the structure [6 ]. This can
be explained by the cantilever beam shown in Fig. 15.
Figure 15 shows the first four modes of the beam.
In this figure, w and w are the ith mode shape com-
pi ri
ponents at the position of control force and sensor
respectively. If they are not zero, the system is con-
trollable and observable; if they are zero, then it is
uncontrollable and unobservable. Obviously, at the nodes
of a mode, these components are zero. In other words,
if the control force is applied at a node of a mode, then
the mode is uncontrollable; if the sensor is located at a
node, the mode is then unobservable. In Fig. 15, the first
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 CONTROL OF VIBRATION IN CIVIL STRUCTURES
and second modes are controllable and observable, the
third mode is observable but uncontrollable and the
fourth mode is controllable but unobservable.
Therefore, if the first two modes must be controlled,
two modelling points are needed and they can be placed
at the nodes of the third mode. In this way, the spillover
problem with this mode can be avoided in the modelling
phase. The present author termed this ‘the structure
filter’ [34].
The key points of the modeling procedure are as follows:
1. Analyse the vibration mode shapes of the flexible
structures to be controlled.
2. Select the nodes of the lowest order non-controlled
vibration mode, place the masses of the lumped para-
meter system at the strategically selected nodes and
make an r-DOF system.
3. Determine the values of masses and spring constants
using sensitivity analyses.
The next section shows how to construct a lumped
model with strategically placed masses at specified points
on a distributed structure.
3.2.2 Modification of a normalized modal matrix
In a physical coordinate system, the equation of motion
of an r-DOF system with negligible damping can be
expressed as
MẌ+KX=F
where M and K are r×r symmetric mass and stiffness
matrices, and X and F are r×1 displacement and force
vectors respectively. From the solution of the eigenvalue
problem given by this equation of motion, modal matrix
W is obtained. The relationship between the mass and
stiffness matrices of the physical and modal domains are
given by WTMW=m and WTKW=k.
It is reasonable to assign the normalized mode shape
values of the real structure at the locations of the model-
ling points, which can be obtained through numerical or
experimental modal analyses, to that of the lumped
system:
w (r )
w (i )= n i
n √m
where r refers to the position of the ith modelling point
i
on the structure.
Normalizing the modal matrix W yields the following
set of relationships for the mass matrix M and stiffness
matrix K of the physical domain:
M=(WWT)−1
K=(WT)−1V2V−1
where V2 is a diagonal matrix whose non-zero diagonal
elements are given by the square of the natural frequencies
of each mode. Equations (3) and (4) suggest that, if
the normalized modal matrix of a lumped parameter
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system can be obtained, the physical parameters of
the system could then be determined. Unfortunately, the
directly obtained modal matrix from the finite element
method (FEM ) modal analysis data is not guaranteed
to satisfy equation (3), where both sides should be
diagonal matrix. Since the mode vectors in W are
sampled from a larger modal matrix of an FEM model
of the structure or vibration mode shapes obtained by
experimental modal analysis, they are not necessarily
going to satisfy equation (3), which is based on a much
lower order, a lumped parameter model. Substituting W
into equation (3) results in a matrix WWT, whose off-
diagonal positions usually contain non-zero, although
small, values. A sensitivity analysis procedure is pro-
posed here to modify the initial matrix W in order to
make WWT diagonal.
Suppose that there are p different non-zero components
in the off-diagonal positions of the matrix WWT; an error
vector e is defined consisting of these p components,
namely
e={e e e , e )T (5)
1 2 3 p
in which each error e is a function of some modal
i
shape components of the matrix WWT. The purpose is
to modify these modal shape components w in order
j
that the errors e approach zero.
i
Define the modification vector of W as dW, which is
assumed to change the error vector from its initial value
(1) e to 0; then the correcting procedure can be started from
the equation
C D
qe
dW=0−e=−e (6)
qW
The modification vector can be obtained directly from
equation (6) using the pseudo-inverse matrix as follows:
A B CA BA B D
qe T qe qe T −1
dW= (−e) (7)
qW qW qW
and the new vector is calculated by
W+dW
W (8)
Usually iterative calculation is necessary in this procedure
(2) so that e converges to 0. After certain iteration when a
preset accuracy has been attained, a final modified modal
matrix can be obtained which will satisfy the diagonal
conditions of equation (8). Consequently, M and K can
be obtained.
3.3.3 Application to a bridge tower under construction
(3) Figure 16 shows a model bridge tower connected with a
model crane tower. The crane tower is connected to the
(4)
bridge tower during construction. Modal analysis of
the structure is first carried out by an FEM. Figure 17
illustrates the obtained first eight vibration modes of
the model structure, which were found to be the same
mode shapes as those of the real structure. The first five
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524 K SETO

are candidates for the modelling points. The normalized

modal vector components of the structure calculated by
FEM at the modelling points are presumably defined as
the mode vector components of the lumped five-DOF
model, as denoted by the symbols in Fig. 18, namely

C D
w w w w w
11 12 13 14 15
w w w w w
21 22 23 24 25
W= w w w w w (9)
31 32 33 34 35
w w w w w
41 42 43 44 45
w w w w w
51 52 53 54 55
3.3.4 Five-DOF modelling of a scaled bridge tower
structure with a crane tower
The above procedure, which determines the physical
Fig. 16 Model structure of a flexible bridge tower parameters of the lumped parameter system from the
available modal data of distributed parameter system, is
called an inverse modal analysis approach. Figure 18
vividly shows the obtained five-DOF lumped-parameter
model. Two hybrid dynamic absorbers are also shown
connected to the mass points 3 and 4 respectively. They
are the actuators employed in this paper. This discrete
model will make it easy to design a controller in a
physical state space where the states are directly
measurable.

4 DESIGN OF CONTROL SYSTEM

4.1 Theory for active vibration control

There are several control theories which need mention-
ing: classical control theory was initiated in the 1950s;
modem control theory came about early in the 1960s
and has reached practical applications; new wave robust

Fig. 17 Modal shapes of the structure

modes, including bending and twisting modes, are those

needing attention. By choosing five modelling points on
the structure, and assuming appropriate lumped masses
and stiffnesses at and between these points, a discrete
model can be created. Evidently, the modelling points
should be able to reflect the motion of these five modes
as well as possible. In this case, the five modelling points
are chosen to be located at the nodes of the sixth mode,
as shown in Fig. 17, with a plus that the sixth mode will
exert no influence on the model [7]. It should be noted
that choosing the modelling points is not based on the
continuous structure coordinate, but on the FEM model
of the structure; i.e. only the nodes of the FEM model
(here the nodes do not mean the places of zero vibration) Fig. 18 The lumped-parameter model

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 CONTROL OF VIBRATION IN CIVIL STRUCTURES 525

control theory focuses on H control theory and learning
2
control centring in a neural network.
Classical control theory represented by proportional–
integral–derivative control continues to provide great
utility in practical applications for conventional control
systems but does not suit vibration control in many-DOF
systems such as flexible structures, since it is difficult to
deal with multi-variable systems.
Modem control theory which is based upon optimum
control theory was at first very difficult to apply for users
because it was mathematically unintelligible to most.
Assisted by progress in computer utilization techniques,
this control method has become widely used in the field
of vibration control. Optimum control theory deals
with linear state-variable feedback control system. It
is emphasized that state-variable feedback is the most
effective way to maintain a desired process balance by
achieving desired closed-loop system eigenvalues. In this
theory, the state feedback gain is determined to minimize
the performance index which is a weighted sum of
squared errors and controlling inputs. Because the per-
formance index is expressed in an LQ form, it is called
LQ control theory. To obtain a stabilizing system, robust
control theories are proposed.
4.2 Control system designing using LQ control
To design a control system, employing mainly LQ con-
trol theory or LQ Gaussian control theory, against the
background of the promotion of research and develop-
ment of active dynamic absorbers, the development of
computer technology for realizing the LQ theory cannot
be ignored. In particular, it is of great significance that
the Riccati equation for determining the state feedback
control law can be easily solved on a personal computer.
After noting problems in regard to LQ control theory,
this section aims to reveal vibration control performance
when controlled using LQ control theory by creating an
active dynamic absorber. The following explains the
practical application of LQ control theory using the
lumped-parameter model shown in Fig. 18.
Then the system can be described by the state equation
Ẋ =A X +B U
c c c c c
y =C X
c c c
(12)
These system matrices A and B are easily obtained from
c c
the lumped-mass model shown in Fig. 18.
As stated before, by placing sensors and actuators
at the nodes of certain modes, the control system
will produce no influence on these modes due to the
unobservability and/or uncontrollability characteristics.
It seems these modes are cut off by a filter. This is
regarded as a ‘structural filter’. Usually, it is possible to
avoid the spillover problem of one or two modes by this
‘structural filter’, which creates a favourable frequency
allowance for the choice of the cut-off frequency of
a low-pass filter. The above consideration is clearly
illustrated in Fig. 19. In this figure, a low-pass filter is
used to prevent spillover caused by neglected higher
modes. Thus, designing an optimal controller using
LQ theory becomes a fairly standard problem. Using LQ
theory, the optimal feedback gain K=[ K , K ] is easily
f c
designed by an extended system combining the control
object denoted by subscript c with a low-pass filter
denoted by subscript f. It should be noted that, owing
to practical constraints, the states at mass point 5 are
not measured; a suboptimal controller [36 ] is therefore
designed.
4.3.2 Simulations
Numerical simulations on the discrete model are per-
formed using the MATLAB Control System Toolbox
routines. In these simulations the values of the com-
ponents that weight velocity terms in Q are all taken

4.3 Vibration control of the bridge tower based on

filtered LQ control [35]
4.3.1 State equation
It is not difficult to represent motion of the lumped system
with active dynamic absorbers, as shown in Fig. 18, in
state space. Using the symbols shown in Fig. 18, a state
vector is defined as
X ={ẋ ẋ ẋ ẋ ẋ ẋ ẋ x x x x x x x }T
c 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(10)
where x and x refer to the relative displacements:
6 7
x =x −x , x =x −x (11) Fig. 19 Block diagram of the filtered optimal controller
6 d3 3 7 d4 4
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526
as unity, and the components weighting displacements
are taken as zero, since various simulations and experi-
ments not mentioned in this paper have determined
that weighting velocity terms seem more effective than
weighting displacement terms or a combination of
both. The feedback gains are changed by adjusting the
weighting matrix R. The proper gains examined in the
simulation will be used in the experiments. Therefore,
the simulation is not only a test of the model but also
an indispensable procedure to prepare the feedback gains
for the experiments. The values of R used in this paper
are 0.001.
Figures 20 and 21 show the calculated frequency
response (compliance) and the impulse response respect-
ively, when assuming an excitation at mass point 1 and
picking up at mass point 2. The cut-off frequency of the
low-pass filters is set to 30 Hz. It can be seen that the
five modes can be well controlled. The experiments have
shown quite good robustness and agree well with the
results of the simulation, in respect of both the spillover
problems and the structure parameter variations [34].
Fig. 20 Calculated frequency response of the discrete model
Fig. 21 Calculated impulse response of the discrete model
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K SETO
4.4 Robust control theory [35]
The LQ control theory is considered less versatile than
the H control theory, which is today replacing LQ
2
control theory as the dominant robust control theory.
Further discussion will address the effectiveness of this
theory as a control system design tool using MATLAB,
and DSP. In particular, an interesting experiment has
verified its effectiveness in the prevention of spillover.
Using the bridge tower under construction shown in
Fig. 16, the effectiveness of H controller with a hybrid
2
dynamic absorber is demonstrated.
The H norm of a stable transfer matrix G( jv) is
2
defined as its largest singular value over the entire
frequency range:
|G( jv)| = sup {s: [G( jv)]} (13)
2 v
where s: represents the largest singular value of G( jv).
With H optimal controller design, a controller is
2
selected to stabilize the nominal system in a way such
that the H norm of a transfer function, which describes
2
certain design objectives, is minimized (or becomes smaller
than a specified value). In the present study, the objective
is to design a static state feedback controller based on
the reduced-order model to control the vibration of the
first five modes and to suppress possible instability due
to the neglected higher modes. These objectives can be
achieved by solving a mixed sensitivity minimization
problem in the framework of the H optimal control
2
theory. The block diagram of the H mixed-sensitivity
2
problem is shown in Fig. 22 where A , B , C and D are
c c c c
the reduced-order nominal model matrices. Here y is the
measurement, u is the control input, and z and z are
1 2
the regulated variables. W (s) and W (s) are the two
1 2
weighting function matrices to be selected.
In general, model uncertainties of bridge tower
structures include all the neglected high-frequency modes
which may causes the spillover phenomenon. The upper
bound of the system uncertainties are used to choose the
suitable weighting function. Using these, the feedback
controller is designed that can ensure robust stability
against system uncertainties.
The experimental frequency and the time responses
are shown in Figs 23 and 24 [38]. These responses are
obtained using an FFT analyser by exciting mass point 1
Fig. 22 Block diagram of an augmented-control system
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 CONTROL OF VIBRATION IN CIVIL STRUCTURES
Fig. 23 Experimental frequency response
Fig. 24 Experimental time response
and observing the response at mass point 2. It is seen
that the first four vibration modes are well suppressed
and also higher modes are not excited which implies that
there is no spillover instability. The fifth mode (which
corresponds to the crane tower) is also well controlled
in spite of the unavailability of the state corresponding
to mass point 5.
In practice, the parameters of a bridge tower change
with the progress of construction work. To verify the
robustness of the proposed control scheme against the
parameter variations, an additional mass of 500 g is
deliberately attached at each of mass points 1 and 2. As
a result of the added masses, the natural frequency is
reduced and the equivalent mass is increased by about
50 per cent at each of mass points 1 and 2. In this
case, the controller gain that is computed at the time of
simulation is also used in the control algorithm. The
frequency and time responses of the controlled structure
are shown in Figs 25 and 26. These results confirm the
robustness of the proposed active control scheme against
parameter variations.
4.5 Neural network [39]
Recently, an optimal-vibration control of a multiple-
DOF system using a neural network has been reported.
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Fig. 25 Frequency response with additional mass
Fig. 26 Impulse response with additional mass
The control object was a three-DOF system and its
dynamic characteristics were identified in the neural
network using white-noise excitation. After carrying out
the identification, the synthesis of the controller neural
network was performed by the back-propagation method.
The usefulness of the method was verified experimentally.
4.6 Other topics [40]
Variable-structure control theory, i.e. sliding-mode con-
trol theory, has been researched in Russia where it was
shown to be applicable not only to linear systems but
also to non-linear systems with time deformation. With
recent dissemination of digital control, this theory is
attracting new interest and is being applied to robot
arms, with special attention paid to robust control system
design. The appearance of variations, non-linear terms
and unknown parameters characteristic of the sliding
condition increases when the state variable is confined
to a changeover surface.
In cases where the nature of the external turbulence
is known in advance or is easily anticipated, a com-
bination of feedforward control used to offset anticipated
turbulence and state feedback provides an excellent
means of vibration control that can not be obtained from
feedback control alone. Many noteworthy studies have
been reported in this field.
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5 CONCLUSIONS
In the past, vibration control was employed post design
and solely as a countermeasure. More recently, vibration
control devices have been included in structural designs
from the outset. The active control device built into the
Yokohama Landmark Tower described in this paper is
an important example of this trend. With this concept
of designing incorporated vibration control systems,
active control can demonstrate its effectiveness; this is
considered a very favourable trend.
This paper has outlined in some detail the general
trend towards active control of vibration. It has further
considered some recently developed vibration control
devices according to the selection of the control system
employed. The idea of preparing a reduced-order physical
model for application in the vibration control of flexible
structures was also examined. This method was shown
to provide optimal performance for both the structure
and the control system. Traditionally, weighting factors
have been selected for a control system with an active
dynamic absorber using LQ control theory. In this
paper a process was demonstrated by which an optimal
weighting factor can be selected.
Recently problems have occurred whereby the desired
performance of the controlled objects has not been
achieved because of obstacles resulting from vibrations
generated by motion control. An urgent area of research
is the simultaneous control of motion and vibration.
Indeed, if the details presented in this paper have pro-
vided some reference towards further research in this
rapidly evolving field of active vibration control, then
the present author will have achieved the purpose of its
publication.
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