The design of a tuned mass damper as a vibration absorber

Abstract EN

The protection of civil structures, including their material contents and human occupants, is without doubt a world-wide priority of most serious current research.

Such protection may range from reliable operation and comfort, on one hand, to serviceability on the other.

Examples of such structures which leap to one’s mind include buildings, towers, and bridges.

In like manner, events which cause the need for such protective measures are environmental like earthquakes and winds, or moving loads like cars and pedestrians in the case of bridges.

The earthquake hazard is translated in severe vibrations for the structural systems.

In order to handle this world wide problem auxiliary damping devices is added to absorb those vibrations.

One of the early used damping devices is the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) which is a passive system in that it absorbs the structural response without adding an external control signal.

In this work a case study of three stories building model excited by a simulated earthquake hazard is investigated versus the response of the same building supplied by a TMD.