Effect of Shear Walls on the Active Vibration Control of Buildings

Abstract

The study aims to assess the impact of shear walls on active vibration control of the buildings. It has evaluated the design of a smart 20-story building equipped with an Active Mass Damper to mitigate earthquakes. The design has combined shear walls with an Active Mass Damper (AMD) added on the top floor. The control configuration used a force actuator combined with a displacement sensor and was examined with Direct Velocity Feedback. The effect of the presence of wall braces in the design of tall buildings on the performances as well as the control effort has been studied. The results have stated that the shear walls designed for mitigating earthquake loads are capable of reducing the displacement of the tall building somewhat but failed to reduce the acceleration of the top floor. The combination between shear walls and AMD has incredible damping capability on the displacement and acceleration of the building. However, the shear walls tend to increase the control cost since they require more control energy.