Nonlinear decentralized active tendon control of cable-stayed bridges

A nonlinear decentralized active tendon controller that substantially reduces the magnitude of the vibrations of a segment of a cable-stayed bridge induced by a seismic excitation is presented in this paper. The model used to represent the dynamic behaviour of the bridge takes into account the inherent nonlinearities due to the stay cables geometry. This is in contrast with traditional models used by previous designers of active controllers of cable-stayed bridges, who assumed completely linear models. The proposed controller is comprised of a linear and a nonlinear part. Its performance is verified via digital computer simulation.