To design a active control system, ISAAC has realized AMDesign, the SAP2000® software plug-in developed in collaboration with CSI Italia, to support the designer during structural design. The software also allows you to perform various types of analysis, such asmodal analysis.
What is meant by the design of a active control?
Designing an active control system means inserting an Active Mass Damper system on the model of a structure to carry out an active control of the seismic response of a building.
What is the purpose of designing an active control system?
The active control systems of the seismic response allow to improve the dynamic performance of the building and are able to monitor the health of the building 24 hours a day. These aspects are highlighted following a comparative analysis between the structure equipped with the system and the structure without it, studying the dynamic behavior of both in the event of an earthquake.
The active anti-seismic systems guarantee maximum seismic protection to buildings, transforming a structure into a real Smart structure.
How to design an active control system with AMDesign?
Designing an active control system with AMDesign is simple and delivers reliable results.
First of all, it is necessary to check the models that have been created for the structure on SAP2000 and then insert the Active Mass Damper on the roofing plan.
Before designing the active control system, you need to:
- Open the AMDesign software
- Select the structure model, previously created within the SAP2000 environment, considering all the essential aspects that may affect the mass and stiffness characteristics of the structure
- When the model is opened, an instance of SAP2000 will automatically start to allow immediate interaction with the finite element model
- Launch a modal load case and check the modal deformation of the structure
Subsequently, for design an active control system, you need to perform the following steps:
- In the Active Control Design it is possible to insert through the tab Set simulations as the type of machine that you want to simulate and select the Active Mass Damper application nodes;
- At this point you have to select the type of machine you want to install (you can possibly change some advanced parameters, to use a customized AMD);
- To define the system installation architecture, it is necessary to choose the machine application nodes on which the control force of the machine will be exerted during the simulation phase. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish the position of a sensor on the roofing plane and the position of a sensor at the base of the building;
- It is possible to decide the direction of action of the machine through the function Angle wrt U1 Global.
- In the Show architecture you can see the machines created. Via the button Plot selection the machines are shown on the graph with the machine application nodes (where the force will be applied), the sensor installation point on the roof and the sensor installation point on the ground (ground sensor). To interact with the 3D model of the structure it will be sufficient to use the commands inside the panel.
- If you want to export the model as a png file, you have to select the function Export png Image. You will have a top view of the structure you are analyzing with the points of application of the nodes and the point of ground sensor.
- Within the AMDesign application, it is possible to carry out three different types of simulation, which differ according to the degree of detail with which you want to simulate the behavior of the active system:
- ideal system;
- constrained system o constrained;
- real system.
The limit of the system simulated as an ideal is relative only to the saturation in force. Therefore, simulating the machines in this way, the software, during the analysis, will treat the machine with only the maximum force limit, in absolute value, equal to 220 kN.
The constrained system, on the other hand, presents the saturations in force, speed and displacement, as it happens in reality. For this reason, the simulation will be much more complete than the ideal one.
The simulations with the real system consider, in addition to the three saturations, the dynamics of the system, through the definition of a specific transfer function. You can define the latter within the advanced options of the AMDesign application.
- As for the measurement systems, through the section Measurement filter the user can apply a filter: a specific accelerometer model based on his own noise, or his noise level (data traceable in the sensor datasheet).
- Il Control Parameters is a section that allows you to insert Activation threshold, that is the limit level of acceleration to the ground such that the machinery must start working.
Once these data have been entered, we can proceed with the analyzes.
With AMDesign it is therefore possible to simulate an Active Mass Damper system of any type.
Download now AMDesign on your PC to start designing an active control system!
