Studies on control mechanism and performance of a novel pneumatic-driven active dynamic vibration absorber

To efficiently attenuate seismic responses of a structure, a novel pneumatic-driven active dynamic vibration absorber (PD-ADVA) is proposed in this study. PD-ADVA aims to realize closed-loop control using a simple and intuitive control algorithm, which takes the structure velocity response as the input signal and then outputs an inverse control force to primary structure. The corresponding active control theory and phase control mechanism of the system are studied by numerical and theoretical methods, the system's control performance and amplitude-frequency characteristics under seismic excitations are explored. The capability of the proposed active control system to cope with frequency-varying random excitation is evaluated by comparing with the optimum tuning TMD. The analysis results show that the control algorithm of PD-ADVA ensures the control force always output to the structure in the opposite direction of the velocity response, indicating that the presented system does not produce a negative effect. The phase difference between the response of uncontrolled and controlled structures is zero, while the phase difference between the control force and the harmonic excitation is t, the theoretical and numerical results demonstrate that PD-ADVA always generates beneficial control effects. The PD-ADVA can effectively mitigate the structural seismic responses, and its control performance is insensitive to amplitude. Compared with the optimum tuning TMD, PD-ADVA has better control performance and higher system stability, and will not have negative effects under seismic wave excitations.