System structure identification and adaptive control of a seismic isolator test rig

•A system structure identification is performed.•A non-linear first order model of the seismic isolator test rig is derived.•A parameter sensitivity analysis is carried out.•A non-linear adaptive control is designed.

This paper is focused on the modelling, the system identification and the adaptive control design of an unidirectional hydraulically actuated seismic isolator test rig.The plant, constituted by the hydraulic actuation system and the isolator under test, is characterized by a non-linear behaviour and parametric uncertainties caused by the operating conditions and the unknown characteristics of the device to be tested. Therefore, a model reference adaptive approach is adopted for the position controller synthesis. To this end, a first order non-linear model is proposed and its structure identified.Experimental results and simulations highlight the goodness of the proposed model and the effectiveness of the designed control for the hydraulically actuated isolator test rig.