Modified LQG/LTR Control Methodology in Active Structural Control

This paper presents a new active structural control design methodology comparing the conventional linear-quadratic-Gaussian synthesis with a loop-transfer-recovery (LQG/LTR) control approach for structures subjected to ground excitations. It results in an open-loop stable controller. Also the closed-loop stability can be guaranteed. More importantly, the value of the controller's gain required for a given degree of LTR is orders of magnitude less than what is required in the conventional LQG/LTR approach. Additionally, for the same value of gain, the proposed controller achieves a much better degree of recovery than the LQG/LTR-based controller. Once this controller is obtained, the problems of control force saturation are either eliminated or at least dampened, and the controller band-width is reduced and consequently the control signal to noise ratio at the input point of the dynamic system is increased. Finally, numerical examples illustrate the above advantages.