Semi-active control implementations for structures are gaining considerable attention in civil engineering. This paper presents a method for the design and implementation of the discrete-time sliding mode controller with a hybrid control strategy, based on Gao’s reaching law and the variable rate reaching law, for practical applications in civil structures by using magnetorheological (MR) dampers. The structure is modeled as a five-degree-of-freedom lumped mass system, controlled by an MR damper placed in between the ground and the first floor. The MR damper is experimentally tested and its behavior is represented by using modified Bouc–Wen model and artificial neural network (ANN) as forward and inverse models, respectively. The five-story building is simulated under the seismic excitation of El Centro earthquake along with the historical earthquake records, Northridge and Kobe. It is demonstrated that the hybrid control strategy yields better results regarding the energy consumption of the controller and time-averaged structural responses by eliminating the chattering, compared to Gao’s controller.

The dynamic characteristics of buildings and their behavior under various dynamic loads play a crucial role in civil engineering applications, particularly for earthquake-resistant structural design. Employing a precise mathematical model of the structural system makes it possible to accurately predict the actual structural performance under dynamic loads, such as winds and earthquakes. Given this perspective, finite element model-updating approaches in structural systems have gained significant attention in recent decades. This paper proposes a simulation-based model-updating technique that utilizes measured free vibration responses to the correct structural parameters of multi-degree-of-freedom systems. A five-degree-of-freedom building model is subjected to shaking table tests to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental data for this method consists of the dynamic behavior of the system under the seismic excitation of the El Centro 1940 earthquake and the results of the free vibration tests. The MATLAB/Simulink parameter estimation tool is employed to establish a correlation between the analytical model and the measured dynamic response from the building model. Compared to the measured structural responses, the updated analytical model, which incorporates the proposed simulation-based model-updating technique, demonstrates high accuracy in predicting the responses through effective corrections of stiffness and damping coefficients.

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers have emerged as one of the most promising semi-active control devices for mitigating seismic responses in civil engineering structures due to their rapid response capability, low power requirement, and adaptive damping characteristics. Although numerous studies have investigated the design, modeling, and control performance of MR dampers, the scientific development of this research field has not yet been comprehensively evaluated from a bibliometric perspective. Therefore, this study aims to systematically evaluate the scientific development of MR-damper applications for seismic structural control through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis based on publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Following a systematic screening process, 409 publications published between 1996 and 2025 were analyzed using performance analysis and science-mapping techniques implemented in VOSviewer. The analysis evaluates publication trends, leading journals, influential authors, productive institutions, international collaboration networks, highly cited publications, and thematic patterns through keyword co-occurrence and science-mapping analyses. The findings reveal a sustained increase in research activity over the past two decades, with the United States and China emerging as the leading contributors to scientific production. Structural Control and Health Monitoring and Engineering Structures are identified as the most influential publication sources, while keyword analysis indicates an increasing emphasis on intelligent control algorithms, experimental validation, and advanced seismic-control strategies. The findings provide a quantitative overview of the scientific development of MR-damper research and highlight potential directions for future research in intelligent seismic structural control.