Regularized model-free adaptive control of smart base-isolated buildings

Smart base-isolated buildings rest on flexible pads known as base isolators that minimize the effect of external disturbances along with active/semi-active actuators. The strategies used to control these active components are typically based on system models that are known a priori. Although these models describe some of the most important dynamics of the elements involved in the system, the high degree of uncertainty in the behavior of a structure under external disturbances is very difficult to characterize using a fixed model. In this work, we propose a strategy that deals with this issue: the input that controls the actuator in the base isolation system results from the compound action of a controller that relies on a model of the system that is known a priori, and a control policy that is designed based on online data-driven inferences on the behavior of the system. In this way, the control design process incorporates both the prior information about the system and the unknowns of the system, such as non-modeled parameters and nonlinear behaviors in the building. We show through simulations the performance of the proposed method in an eight-story building subjected to seismic loading.