Development and Optimization Case Study of Distributed Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Method
Xin Li1, Xilin Lu1, Lei Lu1, Jiaqi Xu1, Wensheng Lu1, Shirley Dyke2
1 College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University
Shanghai, 200092, China
2010lixin@tongji.edu.cn
lxlst@tongji.edu.cn
0720lulei@tongji.edu.cn
08xujiaqi@tongji.edu.cn
wally@tongji.edu.cn
2 Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
sdyke@purdue.edu
Abstract. While the demand to test more complex systems grows, not every laboratory has the right combination of computational and equipment resources available to perform large-scale experiments. Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) is performed when it is important to fully capture the rate-dependent behaviors of the physical substructure. Distributed real-time hybrid simulation (dRTHS) facilitates testing that is to be conducted at multiple geographically-distributed laboratories while utilizing the Internet to couple the substructures. One major challenge in dRTHS is to accommodate the unpredictable communication time delays between the various distributed sites, occurring as a result of Internet congestion. A dRTHS test platform will be constructed between the Jiading Campus and Siping Campus of Tongji University based on the dRTHS framework. Optimial location and quantities of the MR dampers applied in coupled buildings were studied via numerical simulation. Experiments of the two towers coupled by two MR dampers will be conducted using the framework to examine the effectiveness of the MR dampers, in which the two dampers will be tested at Siping and Jiading Campus, seperately. The successful execution of the platform will provide an alternative for researchers to evaluate the global response of structural systems in a distributed real-time environment.
Keywords: Distributed real-time hybrid simulation; Smith predictor; Time delay; Coupled buidlings; MR damper.
