Performance of a real‐time pseudodynamic test system considering nonlinear structural response

Abstract This paper presents the implementation details of a real‐time pseudodynamic test system that adopts an implicit time integration scheme. The basic configuration of the system is presented. Physical tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of the system and validate a theoretical system model that incorporates the dynamics and nonlinearity of a test structure and servo‐hydraulic actuators, control algorithm, actuator delay compensation methods, and the flexibility of an actuator reaction system. The robustness and accuracy of the computational scheme under displacement control errors and severe structural softening are examined with numerical simulations using the model. Different delay compensation schemes have been implemented and compared. One of the schemes also compensates for the deformation of an actuator reaction system. It has been shown that the test method is able to attain a good performance in terms of numerical stability and accuracy. However, it has been shown that test results obtained with this method can underestimate the inelastic displacement drift when severe strain softening develops in a test structure. This can be attributed to the fact that the numerical damping effect introduced by convergence errors becomes more significant as a structure softens. In a real‐time test, a significant portion of the convergence errors is caused by the time delay in actuator response. Hence, a softening structure demands higher precision in displacement control. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.