INTRODUCING A NEW TUNED MASS DAMPER SYSTEM

Tuned mass dampers (TMD) are effective and reliable structural vibration control devices commonly attached to a vibrating primary s ystem for suppressing undesirable vibrations induced by winds and earthquake loads. This paper introduces a newly developed semi pendulum TMD system. The proposed device is composed of a specific c onfiguration of rolling parts which provide a lo ng natural period for the device along with providing the app ropriate force transmission or energy dissipation capacity for the system. The effectiveness of the device ha s been shown by a simple experimental prototype of the device. The proposed system can be utilized fo r various structural bodies such as buildings, bri dges, etc. It can also be used for both new and existing syst ems to improve their seismic performance for retrofitting purposes. It can be concluded that the proposed device is a proper substitute for the conventional TMD systems in long-period as well as shorter-period structures to mitigate the seismic/wind induces vibra tions in a more efficient way in terms of the overall size and/ or energy dissipation capacity.

Keywords:

Tuned Mass Damper , Pa ssive Structural Control , Earthquake Excitation , Vibration Control