Impedance matching control design for the benchmark problem in real-time hybrid simulation

•New impedance matching strategy for RTHS presented in the context of the benchmark problem RTHS.•Transfer system viewed as having two inputs – physical subsystem feedback and control input.•Controller designed so that transfer system has similar impedance to virtual subsystemsubsystem.•Performance of impedance matching evaluated for multiple ground motion inputs.•Performance evaluate for different partitioning configurations and model uncertainties.•Accuracy of RTHS reported in terms of various performance metrics defined in the benchmark problem.