ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE OF TUNED LIQUID DAMPER WITH ROTATABLE BAFFLES UTILIZING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Simulations conducted on single degree of freedom structures (SDOFs) connected rigidly to a tuned liquid damper (TLD) under various excitations show that TLD can reduce structural response to these excitations considerably if properly designed. A conventional TLD is generally tuned to a single frequency. Because of this limitation, the TLD usually is used to control the structural response of semi-SDOF structures. Overcoming this drawback, some standing baffles are suggested to be installed inside the TLD which can rotate around their vertical axis. Numerical simulations, validated by experimental works, show that using these baffles result an increase in damping ratio of TLD up to 20% while without baffles the damping ratio is 3%. Frequency of sloshing of inside water increases to about 3 Hz while without baffles it is almost 1 Hz. Results show that the rate of change in damping and frequency takes place in baffles orientation between 30 to 50 degrees and 40 to 50 degrees respectively

Keywords:

Tuned liquid damper (TLD) , VOF method , Rotatable baffles , Passive dampers , Structural control