9301464 Hernried A strategy for the active control of civil engineering structures, particularly cable supported bridge structures, is planned. The control algorithm incorporates nonlinearities and uncertainties that may exist in the structural model. The control strategy is to be implemented in a decentralized manner. Control forces are generated for and sensor information obtained from subsystems of the structure. Analytical studies will be performed using the nonlinear decentralized control strategy on several example cable supported bridge structures subjected to free vibration, harmonic, and earthquake excitation. Structural nonlinearities are expected to be primarily geometric due to the possibly large motions of the bridge deck and supporting cables. Both the uncontrolled and controlled response will be determined. An iterative scheme will be employed to determine optimum sensor locations. Experimental studies will be performed to verify the proposed methodology and will serve as a comparison to the analytical simulations. ***
