In this paper, (i) we present a novel approach for easily developing mechanical models of buildings integrated with friction dampers to simplify their numerical simulation, (ii) using the developed approach, friction damper-based passive control and then mass driver-based robust active vibration control strategies are applied on a seismically excited, three-story building simulation model, and the results are compared to assess the vibration attenuation level achieved by the passive control approach. Simulation results reveal that displacement and acceleration response reductions in active control are in general better than these in passive control but the difference is not that big. These findings, hence, encourage strongly the use of friction damper-based passive vibration control mechanisms as strong alternatives to active control methods in structural protection against earthquakes.

Energy efficiency in the building sector, where approximately 40% of total end-use energy is consumed [1], is a major concern today. Approximately half of building energy is used for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) [2]. A sustainable and potentially optimal solution (optimal in the context of mathematical optimization) for energyefficient buildings is to integrate renewable energy resources (for example, solar and geothermal energy [3]-[6]) into the structures and use intelligent advanced model-based control methods (AMBCMs). A significant potential exists for energy savings in the building sector since most buildings have manual or rule-based HVAC control systems, which may not be energy efficient [7], [8], and many buildings lack renewable energy integration.