Application of smart passive damping system using MR damper to highway bridge structure

Magnetorheological (i.e., MR) dampers are one of the most prospective semiactive control devices for civil engineering applications to earthquake hazard mitigation, because they have many advantages such as small power requirement, reliability, and low price to manufacture. A smart passive system based on an MR damper system without including a power supply, controller, and sensors consists of an MR damper and an electromagnetic induction (i.e., EMI) system that uses a permanent magnet and a coil. The electromotive force induced by movement of a structure can control MR damper effectively without any external power supply and control algorithm. This smart passive control system is implemented to verify the effectiveness for seismic protection of benchmark structural control problem for the seismically excited highway bridge, which is based on the newly constructed 91/5 highway over-crossing in Southern California. The results of the numerical simulations show that the presented control system can be beneficial in reducing seismic responses of benchmark bridge structure.