Comparison of Control Algorithms Applied to an Hybrid Mass Damper Attached to an Wind Turbine Tower

Abstract

The structural control, basically, promotes a change in the damping and stiffness properties of the structure, either by the addition of external devices or by the action of external forces. It can be classified as: passive control, active control, hybrid control or semi-active control (Soong & Dargush, 1997). The hybrid mass damper (HMD) is a system that deals with the combination of a tuned mass damper (TMD) with an active control actuator. In addition to requiring lower control forces and maintaining its efficiency over a long range of frequencies, this system has a more robust and reliable control, when compared to active and passive alone (Collette & Chesné, 2016). Among the structures, the wind turbine stands out, which is supported by towers, which due to its geometry and height, are slender, flexible and can suffer excessive levels of vibration caused by the operation of the turbine, as well as by external forces (Woude & Narasimhan, 2014). In this work it is proposed the application of a structural control system, in the way of HMD, to protect a wind tower with theoretical dimensions and with a simplified as single degree of freedom model, submitted to wind and seismic loads that leads to levels of undesirable vibrations that may compromise the safety and integrity of the structure. In addition, it is proposed to compare the performances obtained from the system without control and by the Instantaneous Optimal Control (IOC), Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controllers with numerical simulations performed using the MAPLESOFT, MATLAB and its Simulink control toolbox. The results obtained numerically were analyzed and compared with each other, and it was observed that HMD was efficient in reducing the dynamic response of the tower. Although it is a preliminary model, it is a basis for studies in this area to evolve into a more sophisticated model and fullscale applications.