Tuned Mass Damper Positioning Effects on the Seismic Response of a Soil-MDOF-Structure System

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are effective structural vibration control devices. However, very little research is available on the experimental investigation of TMDs and their performance in systems undergoing dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI). Geotechnical centrifuge tests are conducted to investigate storey positioning effects of single and multiple TMDs in a soil-MDOF-structure system. The criteria for optimal storey positioning will be established and it is shown that storey positioning influences TMD performance more than the number of TMDs used. Non-optimal storey positioning was found to have the potential of reducing damping efficiency, amplifying peak structural response and inducing lengthier high-intensity motion.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant ID: EP/K503009/1

Tuned Mass Damper Positioning Effects on the Seismic Response of a Soil-MDOF-Structure System

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are effective structural vibration control devices. However, very little research is available on the experimental investigation of TMDs and their performance in systems undergoing dynamic soil-structure interaction. Geotechnical centrifuge tests are conducted to investigate story positioning effects of single and multiple TMDs in a soil-MDOF-structure system. The criteria for optimal story positioning will be established, and it is shown that story positioning influences TMD performance more than the number of TMDs used. Non-optimal story positioning was found to have the potential of reducing damping efficiency, amplifying peak structural response, and inducing lengthier high-intensity motion

Structure-soil-structure interaction effects on structures retrofitted with tuned mass dampers

© 2017 This paper investigates the dynamic structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) between two adjacent sway frames, replicating closely spaced residential buildings in an urban setting subjected to seismic input motions. The structures are considered with and without external damping mechanisms by means of tuned mass damper (TMD) configurations. Geotechnical centrifuge tests were conducted to address the current lack of experimental case studies into SSSI and uniquely explore the influences from the presence of TMDs and variations in their configurations on SSSI. SSSI was found to significantly alter the response of proximally located urban structures, as was evident from significantly larger rocking amplitudes and changes in frequency response spectra. TMD effects under SSSI were mostly found to amplify an adjacent structure's peak roof acceleration response and inter-storey drift – this was most aggravated when the damper was de-tuned. TMD effects were found to be relatively more pronounced under smaller earthquakes and could certainly cause occupational inconvenience or even damage in adjacent buildings

An experimental investigation of soil-structure interaction in a sway frame structure with tuned mass dampers

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are effective vibration resisting devices that are commonly used in structures to protect against wind, human or seismically induced loading. The frequency of these dampers is normally set to coincide with the most pre-dominant modal frequency of the structure and is usually determined by considering structural properties alone. In reality, soil-structure interaction (SSI) may cause de-tuning of the mass damper through altering the system properties. This could lead to a loss of the damper's operational efficiency and even an amplification of structural response. Past studies into TMD operations have mainly dealt with the development of analytical expressions for the optimisation of the TMD parameters mass, stiffness and damping. Prior to Ghosh and Basu (2004) no authors had looked into the effects of SSI on TMD performance. The limited number of experimental studies conducted on TMDs have mainly relied on field data to evaluate long-term TMD performance. This paper presents the findings from a number of shaking table tests performed on a 3-degrees-of-freedom sway frame structure model fitted with a range of TMD configurations interchangeably positioned on the various floors of the structure. The objective of this paper is to experimentally depict the effects of various tuned and de-tuned mass damper configurations on the response of a multi-storey structure interchangeably situated on a fixed bed and a soil bed. Experimental findings suggest that positioning of a TMD along the height of the structure is crucial for its effectiveness and that regardless of whether it is tuned to the soil-structure system properties, a TMD may still amplify the isolated structural response. This could potentially have major implications for existing and new structures fitted with TMDs for seismic protection

Structure-soil-structure interaction effects on structures retrofitted with tuned mass dampers

© 2017 This paper investigates the dynamic structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) between two adjacent sway frames, replicating closely spaced residential buildings in an urban setting subjected to seismic input motions. The structures are considered with and without external damping mechanisms by means of tuned mass damper (TMD) configurations. Geotechnical centrifuge tests were conducted to address the current lack of experimental case studies into SSSI and uniquely explore the influences from the presence of TMDs and variations in their configurations on SSSI. SSSI was found to significantly alter the response of proximally located urban structures, as was evident from significantly larger rocking amplitudes and changes in frequency response spectra. TMD effects under SSSI were mostly found to amplify an adjacent structure's peak roof acceleration response and inter-storey drift – this was most aggravated when the damper was de-tuned. TMD effects were found to be relatively more pronounced under smaller earthquakes and could certainly cause occupational inconvenience or even damage in adjacent buildings

Tuned mass damper effects on the response of multi-storied structures observed in geotechnical centrifuge tests

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are widely used to reduce vibrations in structures. However, very little research is available on the experimental investigation of TMDs and their performance in soil-structure systems. In this paper, a series of geotechnical centrifuge tests was conducted to investigate the effects of TMDs on the response of a multiple-storey sway frame structure undergoing dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI). Structural responses were recorded for a wide range of input motion characteristics, damper configurations and soil profiles. The practicality associated with the use of TMDs in the damping of resonant structures in light of unexpected earthquake characteristics different from design earthquakes was experimentally demonstrated. Tuning a TMD to soil-structure system properties rather than fixed-base structural properties was found to double the improvement in damping and reduce the original peak response by nearly half. The potential effectiveness of a de-tuned mass damper in light of significant SSI was also demonstrated

Research data supporting "Tuned mass damper positioning effects on the seismic response of a soil-MDOF-structure system"

This dataset provides the raw responses in Excel (in Volts) of microelectromechnical and piezo-electric accelerometers positioned on the structural model and equivalent shear beam (ESB) container used to conduct the centrifuge tests considered in ‘Tuned mass damper positioning effects on the seismic response of a soil-MDOF-structure system’ in the Journal of Earthquake Engineering. Fig. 4 in the accompanying research paper shows a layout of all instrument positions in the model. The calibration factors (g/V) of all accelerometers are provided below. Multiplication of the raw response (V) by the calibration factor (g/V) results in acceleration response (g).This work was supported by the EPSRC [grant number EP/K503009/1