ACTIVE AND SEMI-ACTIVE CONTROL OF BUILDINGS IN JAPAN

Abstract

During the last two decades, active and semi-active control of civil engineering structures has made rapid progress in Japan. This technology has become widely used in earthquake engineering design, and more than 50 control systems have already been applied to buildings in Japan. The 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake opened a door to positive development of semi-actively-controlled buildings against large earthquakes. This paper reports the state of the art by introducing practical applications, and describes future perspectives.