On implementation of active control systems

Increased interest in the development of structures capable of resisting a variety of disturbances, e.g. earthquakes and heavy traffic, has resulted in research projects aimed at intelligent structures. Active, adaptive, and hybrid control systems are involved in such structures. While there has been significant progress in the development of control algorithms for structures, issues related to the implementation of the proposed systems have not been fully addressed. The paper presents the authors' experience in attempting to implement real-time active control systems on a variety of structures. Simulation and experimental results are presented and discussed.