Quadratic jerk regulation for near-field seismic events

Regulation of the total structural jerk is a means of managing the structural energy and enhancing the performance of civil structures undergoing large seismic events. A quadratic regulator is derived for the total structural jerk that produces a single algebraic Riccati equation to define the control gains. The resulting control method is tested using a realistic non-linear structural control case study where the structural response is statistically quantified for extensive suites of scaled, large magnitude earthquakes. The control method is shown to be more effective than typical displacement focused civil structural control methods and provides improved performance for near field seismic events where the response is dominated by a large impulse.