Active-Passive Decentralized H∞ Control for Adjacent Buildings Under Seismic Excitation

In this paper, a control strategy to reduce the vibrational response of adjacent buildings under seismic excitation is presented. The proposed strategy combines passive linking elements with an active decentralized control system. The overall active-passive control system admits decentralized design and operation, and achieves an excellent vibrational reduction when the active control system works; in case of a full or partial failure of the active control system, a remarkable reduction in the vibrational response is guaranteed by the passive linking elements. For adjacent buildings that require different levels of seismic protection, the implementation of an active H ∞ control system in just one of the buildings is also considered. The main ideas are presented by means of a simplified two-building model. Numerical simulations have been carried out to assess the performance of the proposed methodology with promising results.