Semi-Active Control of Stay Cable Vibrations Using Magnetorheological Damper

A nonlinear dynamic model of a small-sag stay cable with an axial support motion is considered. A magnetorheological (MR) damper is employed for semi-active control of cable vibrations. Voltage supplied to the MR damper has been monitored through a two-stage state feedback control design approach. The first stage contains a primary controller, which determines the force required to obtain a desired closed-loop response of the system. In the second stage, an optimal dynamic inversion approach has been used to obtain the amount of voltage to be supplied to the MR damper such that it provides the required control force prescribed by the primary controller. Keywords: nonlinear vibrations, semi-active control, stay-cable vibrations.