An H-infinity design approach to the control of human induced vibration in office floor structures

Abstract

Modern design and manufacturing methods have led to the widespread use of slender beams in the construction of office buildings. Coupled with the increasing use of open-plan areas this has led to an increasing problem of excessive floor vibrations as a result of human walking which causes annoyance and discomfort for occupants. One viable solution is to use active vibration control methods to suppress the levels of floor vibration. A number of research studies have proposed the use of decentralised velocity feedback schemes and some success at full scale has been reported. However, the use of such localised schemes can result in increased levels of vibration at other remote locations on the floor. In this paper this problem is highlighted using a finite element model of a typical office floor structure. In addition it is shown that an H-infinity optimisation framework utilising linear matrix inequalities can be used to provide controllers that reduce the global response of the floor. The framework allows for different controller architectures that include both decentralised collocated velocity feedback at limited locations on the floor and centralised dynamic compensators

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