Active control of a wind excited mast

In this paper are reported the experimental tests conducted using the aluminum mast realized by the University of Perugia to asses the effects of active control strategies to reduce the vibrations of flexible structures subjected to wind loads. In the analyzed cases, the algorithm used to generate the control forces was a closed loop type in which the control force is proportional to the state space coordinates and to their derivatives (PD). Two kinds of tests were realized with artificially generated external forces (free response analysis) and with wind-induced external forces. During the first tests the effect of the control was evaluated in term of struc-tural damping of the first vibration mode. From the comparison between the tests results and some numerical simulations it was possible to underline the effect of imperfections of real systems in the performance of the active control device. In the second tests the efficiency of the active control device was determined by means of statistical analysis on the dynamic responses.