Real-time Hybrid Simulation Studies of Complex Large-Scale Systems Using Multi-Grid Processing

Real-time hybrid simulation combines physical testing (experimental substructuring) and numerical simulation (analytical substructuring) such that the dynamic performance of the entire structural system can be considered during the simulation. A grid-based real-time hybrid simulation technique is introduced as a means to perform real-time hybrid simulations of complex structural systems where the analytical substructure poses a large computational demand. Real-time hybrid simulations of the 9-story ASCE benchmark structure with large-scale magnetorheological (MR) dampers are performed at the Lehigh NEES Equipment Site to demonstrate the multi-grid real-time hybrid simulation procedure and illustrate the ability to significantly reduce the time to perform the state determination of the analytical substructure. The 9-story building structure is modeled as the analytical substructure, with the experimental substructure consisting of large-scale MR dampers that are located in the structure. The analytical substructure is divided into two parts and implemented onto a computational grid consisting of two parallel xPCs that run MathWorks real-time Target PC software package. The restoring force data from these two xPCs are synchronized together along with the measured damper forces from the experimental substructure, and processed in a real-time manner for each time step of the hybrid simulation. The results of real-time hybrid simulation are compared to those of numerical simulations to validate the new test methodology.