Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering

Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering

Development of a Real-Time Two-Layer Adaptive Control System for Reducing Seismic Responses of High-Rise Structures Using Hyper-Adaptation and the Extremum Seeking Algorithm

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
Rasoul Sabetahd 1
Ommegolsoum Jafarzadeh 2
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Sou.C., Islamic Azad University, Soufian, Iran
2 Department of Civil Engineering, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran
10.22060/ceej.2026.24229.8344
Abstract
In this study, a real-time adaptive control framework with a two-layer architecture is proposed for mitigating the seismic responses of tall buildings exhibiting nonlinear behavior. The proposed structure consists of a baseline adaptive controller and a supervisory hyper-adaptive layer that adjusts the adaptation parameters online using a filtered extremum-seeking algorithm. The baseline controller generates the control signal based on output-feedback adaptive laws, while the hyper-adaptive layer determines the direction and rate of updating the controller gains by estimating the instantaneous approximate gradient of the performance function. This mechanism, without relying on an accurate structural model or requiring prior identification, enables dynamic adaptation to sudden or gradual changes in system dynamics, nonlinear behaviors such as hysteresis, and structural uncertainties. The iRT-SAC framework is designed to guarantee boundedness of the adaptive parameters and closed-loop stability under challenging operating conditions, while minimizing the need for manual retuning or remodeling. To evaluate its performance, the proposed method is implemented on the 20-story benchmark structure of Ohtori et al. and compared with reference controllers including LQG, H_∞, fuzzy control, and Clipped-LQG. The results demonstrate approximately a 60% reduction in interstory drift and preservation of closed-loop stability in the presence of severe uncertainties and nonlinear behavior. Overall, iRT-SAC represents a model-light, robust, and practically deployable adaptive approach for tall and complex structures.
Keywords
Simple Adaptive Control (SAC)
Hyper-Adaptation
Model-Free Control
Extremum Seeking Algorithm
Nonlinear Benchmark Structure
Subjects
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Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering
Volume 57, Issue 12
March 2026
Pages 2079-2118