Earthquake-Resilience-Based Control Solutions for the Extended Benchmark Cable-Stayed Bridge

Structural control solutions can offer a decisive contribution to reducing the consequences of strong events in earthquake-affected areas, enhancing structural resilience. Furthermore, the inherent feature of some control systems, which can adapt themselves to different loading levels, can be exploited when structural conditions change due to local failures. This occurs by changing the working parameters of the control system in real time or, even if very short, over the period between two seismic events. This work deals with resilience of seismic control solutions for cable-stayed bridges through a case study represented by a standard bridge control benchmark from the literature. A strategy for recovering the optimal configuration of the controlled bridge after a damaging event is presented. Emphasis is given to the time interval between the damage occurrence and the restoration, which represent the essential aspect of the resilient behavior. Finally, the formulation of a robustness index and general procedures that suggest how to quantify resilience for the control system of cable-stayed bridges in the context of multiple hazards are explored. © 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.