Dissipator Placement Design for Truss Structures via Balancing Theory

Application of a balancing theory to the placement of energy dissipators for truss structures is discussed. To apply the balancing theory, the equation of motion for a slightly damped truss structure is transformed into a modal state-space representation, which is almost invariant under balanced realization. The ratio of future output energy to pass control input energy under the state-space representation is chosen as the placement index to design the best placement of energy dissipators. Two types of placement indices are proposed: one is for a fixed initial condition, and the other is for a worst-case design, i.e., considering all possible initial conditions. Various configurations with different dissipator placements are designed based on the placement indices. Numerical results show that these placement indices can be used as a good design criterion for the placement of linear-friction dissipators for truss structures with a global property. (Author)