This paper focuses on an analytical and numerical investigation of aluminium brackets used to fasten light-weight curtain walls to building facilities. The authors propose a solution to increase the load capacity of aluminium brackets by means of additional cover plates (straps). This paper also includes a short survey of literature and material properties concerning the EN AW-6060 T6 aluminium alloy. This paper suggests an initiation of a comprehensive investigation on aluminium brackets.

Active suspension systems ease the conflict between comfort and handling. This requires the use of suitable actuators that in turn need to be efficiently controlled. This paper proposes a model-based control approach for a nonlinear suspension actuator. Firstly the concept is derived in the linear framework in order to simplify the synthesis and analysis phase. There a linear model of the actuator is proposed and discussed. Further, this design phase includes a comparison between model-free PID controllers and a newly proposed two-degree-of-freedom controller which allows one to shape reference and disturbance responses separately. Subsequently, the two-degree-of-freedom controller, which proves to be superior, is adapted to the nonlinear framework by considering a linear parameter varying representation of the nonlinear plant. Finally, the nonlinear controller is implemented in a test car confirming the concept applicability to real hardware.