About this Research Topic

Background

There are three main historical periods of structural design, the first of which is the classical era during which the structures are designed only for vertical loads. The second period is the modern era during which the dynamic effects are taken into consideration in design. Finally, the third is the postmodern era at which the energy is damped, achieved by the technological control tools working with different principles. They can be used both for natural hazard mitigation, and for rehabilitation of aging or deficient structures. The control of structural vibrations can be provided by various advanced methods such as modifying rigidity, mass, damping, or form, and by using passive, active or semi active reverse forces. Structural health monitoring is based on observing and analyzing the properties of the structural system in situ and non-destructively, in order to observe the damage and deterioration of the structure and to determine the changes causing it.

Passive energy dissipation systems include a set of materials and tools for increasing damping, stiffness and strength. They cannot exhibit a variable attitude towards the variability of external influences and do not need a number of sensors and computer systems. However, there are also systems with a number of sensors and computer mechanisms that are variable, self-adjusting, dependent on the external forces, reducing structural response by applying counteracting control forces externally, and creating reactive internal forces - these are known as active control systems. In the field of civil engineering, active control is classified into two parts; the first is full active systems, the second is semi-active systems which do not need high energies together with many useful aspects of full active systems. Recently, passive, active or semi-active systems have begun to be used together and mixed control systems have emerged. While some systems are better at wind impacts, some exhibit better performance than earthquake effects. Some systems require high energy to operate, while others do not. The use of mixed control systems can provide more robust control in some troubled situations, such as time delay, insufficient power generation, interruption of energy during an earthquake, failure of the control system to adapt to external influences, and insufficiency.

Aims and Scope of this Research Topic encloses theoretical, experimental and technological aspects of structural control, smart materials, controlled structures and health monitoring. This topic focuses on civil and infrastructure engineering applications. We welcome:
• Original studies based on analytical, experimental and computational methods are required in passive, active, semi-active, mixed control, health monitoring, and smart materials covering them such as supplemental energy dissipation, base isolation, active tendons and actuators, variable orifice dampers, MR dampers, and mixed control schemes and practices, innovative vibration absorbers, shape memory alloys, structural reliability, sensors, damage localization, structural identification etc.
• Also of interest are dynamics and control, control methods for earthquake resistant design and retrofit of structures, structural control applications, design of control tools, optimization of the damped structural systems and devices, new algorithms, developments on control theories, damper design for regulations and instructions for earthquake resistant design codes, soil structure interaction problems for controlled structures, seismic code requirements, and monitoring studies.

Keywords: Passive Active Semi-active Control, Smart Materials, Health Monitoring, Structural Reliability, Sensors, Damage Localization, Structural Identification

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