Sensor informatics and advanced vibration control of civil structures

Vibration control of large civil engineering structures, caused by natural and manmade disturbances, is of great interest and importance. This paper addresses three fundamental issues related to the vibration control of large-scale civil structures. These are: optimal locations for enhanced controllability and observability of structures; informatics and data processing associated with large volume of data obtained from sensors distributed within the structure; and effective control for both random and periodic excitations. A hybrid control architecture that combines feedforward and feedback algorithms has been developed and presented in this paper. By using Controllability and Observability Grammian, an analytical technique for optimal locations of sensors and actuators-is developed and described. Finally, the Principle Component Analysis (PCA) technique is used to perform data reduction, thus filtering unnecessary data that is provided by the feedback sensors. Results of these techniques are implemented on a laboratory prototype Of an actual cable-stayed bridge. Effectiveness of the proposed control system and informatics is presented.