FG Hybride Konstruktionen - Massivbau
The distributed-Multiple Tuned Facade Damping (d-MTFD) system was proposed to effectively reduce wind-induced vibrations of high-rise buildings by using the parallel moveable outer skin of the Double-Skin Facade (DSF) as damping mass. A full-scale prototype with a moveable (kinetic) DSF element has been built for first experimental tests using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulations. The parallel moveability of the DSF’s outer skin is achieved by mounting it on a smooth-running guide rail system. A stepper motor is applied as an adjustable electrical damper and simultaneously serves as an energy harvester. By using grey-box system identification, all the parameters of the prototype can be accurately estimated. For example, a low equivalent friction ratio of 0.0022 was estimated. The identified model achieved high fitness values (80% to 91%) compared to the measured data, providing the basis for the reliability of the experimental tests using HiL. The prototype is the hardware part of the HiL simulations, which is connected to the simulation part, namely, a 76-story, 306 m high benchmark building assumed to be installed with the d-MTFD system. The feasibility of using a stepper motor as an adjustable electrical damper for semi-active control has been successfully validated based on the HiL simulations. By using semi-active control, the relative displacement of the DSF’s outer skin can be significantly reduced by about 35% compared with using passive control. Energy harvesting performance has also been investigated. The average energy harvesting efficiency of the power electronics was experimentally determined as approximately 75%. With consideration of all the parasitic damping in the connection, the average energy harvesting efficiency was about 50%. For tests under across-wind excitation with a return period of 10 years, the self-sufficient operation of the semi-active d-MTFD system was proven to be achievable based on the prototype results. The average harvested power of the whole benchmark building (with 1000 moveable facade elements) can be predicted as 1.3 kW.
This paper presents a sustainable semi-active distributed-Multiple Tuned Facade Damping (d-MTFD) system that utilizes the existing mass of the Double-Skin Facade's outer skin as damping mass to mitigate structural vibrations caused by wind excitation. Based on this concept, a prototype with one full-scale parallel moveable facade element has been developed, built, and validated. A stepper motor working together with its connected energy harvesting circuit is innovatively applied as an adjustable electrical damper and simultaneously as an energy harvester. Its feasibility has been proven through experiments using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulations. An energy harvesting efficiency of 75% was achieved by using a two-stage power converter as the energy harvesting circuit. The self-sufficiency of the semi-active d-MTFD system was achieved.
Dampers are widely used to reduce undesired vibrations. In recent decades, they have been developed from the energy dissipation strategy to the energy harvesting strategy. Dual-functional dampers, which convert part of vibration energy into electrical energy, are intensively studied. DC motors are the most applied electromagnetic transducers in these studies. In this paper, two-phase stepper motors are applied as adjustable electrical dampers and energy harvesters. Dual-functional dampers using stepper motors inherently have higher damping density than those using DC motors, as stepper motors have more pole pairs than DC motors. The nonlinear theoretical electrical damping coefficient of two-phase stepper motors is derived and compared with that of DC motors. A dual two-stage Energy Harvesting Circuit (EHC) is proposed to realize the function of adjustable electrical damping through resistance emulation and the function of harvesting energy. A test bench is built to experimentally verify the adjustable electrical damping and energy harvesting performance of a selected two-phase hybrid stepper motor with the proposed dual two-stage energy harvesting circuit. The numerical solution from the identified model shows a high agreement with the experimental results. The energy harvesting efficiency in the electrical domain has reached about 85%. This tested dual-functional damper using a stepper motor has been successfully integrated into a full-scale demonstrator of the distributed-Multiple Tuned Facade Damping (d-MTFD) system.
Facade-Integrated Semi-Active Vibration Control for Wind-Excited Super-Slender Tall Buildings
(2020)
Nowadays, skyscrapers are getting higher and more slender due to inner-city concentration, which makes the structure more susceptible to dynamic excitations. The design of super-slender skyscrapers is governed primarily by wind excitation. A traditional Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) has been installed in many skyscrapers to mitigate wind-induced vibrations, which has been proven to be very reliable. However, it needs large additional mass and huge installation space near the top of the building, which makes TMD not optimal for superslender skyscrapers. In this paper, a semi-active distributed-Multiple Tuned Facade Damper (d-MTFD) using movable facade elements as damping mass is investigated. The facade elements at the upper stories of the building are parallel movable to the primary structure. Electrical Machines (EM) as variable damper are integrated in their connections to realize semi-active vibration control, which makes the system more effective and robust. For real application, a practical design criterion is that the relative displacement of the facade elements cannot be too large, otherwise it makes the occupants feel uncomfortable. Therefore, multi-objective Genetic Algorithm (GA)-optimized on-off groundhook semi-active control is applied, where two control objectives are optimized. One control objective is to minimize the peak top floor acceleration and the other control objective is to minimize the maximum peak relative displacement of all the facade elements. As a result, a Pareto Front shows that better vibration suppression performance and smaller facade relative displacement can be achieved using the multi-objective optimized controller.
Tall buildings are increasingly built worldwide due to significant economic benefits in dense urban land use. But super-slender tall buildings are very susceptible to wind excitation. Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) and distributed-Multiple Tuned Mass Damper (d-MTMD) have been widely investigated passively and actively and proven to be e cient solutions to mitigate the structure vibration. However, they both need additional mass and huge installation space near the top of the building. In this contribution, a new semi-active distributed-Multiple Tuned Façade Damper (d-MTFD) is investigated that employs the mass of the outer skin of a Double-Skin Façade (DSF) as damping mass. The outer skin of DSF at the upper storeys of the building are parallel moveable to the inner skin fixed on the primary structure. A design criterion besides the damping of the primary structure vibration is that the relative displacement of the outer skin with respect to the inner skin fixed on the primary structure should not be too large. Otherwise, it makes the occupants feel uncomfortable and imposes too high constructional demands. Therefore, on-o ground-hook control is investigated, where the two control objectives are optimized using genetic algorithms. One control objective is to minimize the peak top floor acceleration, and the other control objective is to reduce the maximum peak relative displacement of all the moveable outer skins. This multi-objective optimization results in a Pareto Front, which allows choosing controller settings that yield a good trade-o between both objectives. The approach has been first validated in a simulation with a 306 m benchmark building for a wind speed of 13,5 m/s at 10 m above ground level with a return period of 10 years. Acceptable peak top floor accelerations for hotel usage and a maximal displacement between the primary structure and the moveable outer skin less than ± 0.5 m could be achieved despite the presence of rolling friction. The variable damping coe cients for the on-o ground-hook control can be realized by means of a stepper motor in each moveable DSF element which acts as a generator using customized power electronics for energy harvesting. An open research question is if the harvested energy will be su cient for enabling a self-sustainable operation of the embedded control system and power electronics. Further validations will be carried out in Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulations in which a currently built prototype of one moveable DSF element will be physically connected to the simulation of the benchmark building.
To reduce wind-induced vibrations, Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) are widely used in high-rise buildings. However, traditional TMD system requires large additional damping mass and huge installation space at the top floors of the building. In this paper, a novel distributed-Multiple Tuned Facade Damping (d-MTFD) system is investigated. This system employs the outer skin mass of the Double-Skin Facade (DSF) as the damping mass. In the upper stories, the DSF’s outer skin, mounted on a guide rail system, is designed to be parallel moveable. The passive/semi-active d-MTFD system, which is assumed to be installed on a 76-story benchmark building under across-wind excitation, is optimized using multi-objective Genetic Algorithms (GA) for two defined objectives: minimizing the peak top floor acceleration and controlling the maximum peak relative displacement of all the moveable DSF’s outer skins. On-off groundhook control and displacement-reducing bang-bang control are used as semi-active control strategies. The rolling friction caused by the guide rail system has a considerable impact on the optimization results. These results are presented in the form of Pareto fronts. Optimized parameters can be selected to yield a good trade-off between both objectives. The optimized passive/semi-active d-MTFD systems can highly improve the structural response. Compared with the optimized passive d-MTFD system, the use of semi-active control can reduce the vibration of the DSF’s outer skin significantly. Comparing the selected optimized cases with similar peak top floor acceleration, the peak top floor facade relative displacement using displacement-reducing bang-bang control decreases 58.3%, and the Root Mean Square (RMS) value decreases 61.4%.