Control, Optimization, and Smart Structures: High-Performance Bridges and Buildings of the Future

"Smart" or "adaptive" structures are the next generation of structural systems. They are designed with embedded computer systems and sensors within them that help these structures to modify their behaviour - in effect, to react to stimuli and events during earthquakes, wind events, and blasts. A smart building or bridge, upon first sensing seismic tremors, would vibrate and sway in ways designed to keep it intact through the duration of the earthquake to come. Using the same computer technology that made smart bombs famous during the Gulf War episode, these smart structures are being built with increasing frequency now that this technology is gaining acceptance. This book explains the technology, and how to work it into a structural design efficiently and effectively.