Collaborative control for structures subjected to traveling loads

Abstract

The paper presents a novel collaborative control method that adapts the structures subjected to traveling loads. The adaptation is realized by changes of the damping of the structure's supports. The control objective is to provide smooth passage of vehicles and to extend the safe life-time of the carrying structures. The control method utilizes a distributed architecture where the local controllers communicate along the circular graph. The proposed controller is validated experimentally. It is simple for practical realization and exhibits the performance comparable to that provided by the optimal centralized strategies presented in [1] and [2].