A new hybrid simulation system (HSS), namely nees@berkeley, developed at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), is presented in this study. Validation of the HSS is sought through testing steel cantilever columns with predictable structural response that is verifiable by purely numerical simulation of the experiment.
Two procedures are developed and implemented in the HSS with the aim of enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the pseudo-dynamic test results. The first procedure is a feed-forward error compensation scheme that aims at correcting the experimental systematic error in executing the displacement command signal. The second procedure employs mixed variables with mode switching between displacement and force controls. Two experimental test structures are considered in this study to demonstrate different aspects of the procedures developed in the HSS:
- Reinforced concrete frames with and without unreinforced masonry infill walls, and
- Wood shear walls of the first story of a two-story wood house over a garage.
The structural performance of the two test structures under seismic loading is evaluated using the developed HSS. The two test structures have the common feature of being large substructures of shaking table experiments and, accordingly, a comprehensive comparative study is conducted between the test results of the two testing methods.
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