Numerical evaluation of controllers for delay compensation in real-time substructuring

Abstract

Real-time substructuring is a hybrid technique in which the critical component of the structure is tested, while the remaining structure is modelled analytically. In order to realise synchronization between the analysis and experimental testing, controller performance should be very fast. This paper aims at numerical evaluation of different controllers that are used in real-time substructuring applications. The response of substructured linear and nonlinear single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems is evaluated using different controller and compared with that obtained without substructuring. In order to benchmark the performance of a controller, a non-dimensional error index for controller is defined and evaluated for a linear and nonlinear system. Minimal Control synthesis is found to perform well for both linear as well as nonlinear systems.