Seismic response control of a building and elevator rope with active mass damper

Elevator rope-sway is a serious problem for a high-rise building under seismic excitation. Vibration control of the rope-sway using active mass damper (AMD) is investigated, which is usually designed simply for control of building response. The linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is employed as the AMD control system. Numerical simulations are conducted and the responses are analyzed in both frequency and time domains. The relative displacement between the building and the rope is evaluated as well as the story drift and the absolute acceleration of the building. It is observed that the control method considering the rope-sway can effectively decrease response of the rope after seismic excitations.