EFFECT OF TUNED MASS DAMPERS ON

SEISMIC RESPONSE

Submitted by

GREATA MARIYAM JESSY

st
I Semester
MASTERS OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
(Enrollment No. MT16STR008)

Under the Guidance of

Dr. S S GADVE

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED MECHANICS

VISVESVARAYA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NAGPUR - 440010
 INDEX

SL. NO. NAME PG. NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 BACKGROUND 3
3 PROTOTYPE BUILDING 4
4 EFFECT OF TMD 4
5 CONCLUSION 5
6 REFERENCES 6

LIST OF FIGURES

SL. NO. FIGURE NAME PG. NO.

1 Schematic Representation of Tuned Mass Damper 3

2 Optimum TMD Parameters v/s Mass Ratio 3
3 Prototype Building 4
4 Earthquake Response of Linear Elastic Model 5

LIST OF TABLES

SL. NO. TABLE NAME PG. NO.

1 Optimum TMD Constants 5

2
 1. INTRODUCTION
Tuned mass dampers (TMD) have been widely used for vibration control in mechanical
engineering systems. The elements in such devices are: mass, spring and dashpot. TMD is
attached to a structure in order to reduce the dynamic response of the structure. The frequency of
the damper is tuned to a particular structural frequency so that when that frequency is excited,
the damper will resonate out of phase with the structural motion. The mass is usually attached to
the building via a spring-dashpot system and energy is dissipated by the dashpot as a relative
motion develops between the mass and the structure.

FIG. 1 Schematic Representation of Tuned Mass Damper

2. BACKGROUND

The optimum TMD parameters have been given by Den Hartog, Weisner and Wirsching for
different excitation forces. Den Hartog gave the solution for single degree of freedom system
subjected to sinusoidally varying force, Weisner for wind excitation and Wirsching for ground
excitation.

FIG. 2 Optimum TMD Parameters v/s Mass Ratio

3
 3. PROTOTYPE BUILDING
A prototype building with large lateral surface area was chosen. The 25 storey building was
modelled as lumped-mass model with 8 nodes. Gravity loads are resisted by a steel frame, and
all lateral loads are assumed to be resisted by the two reinforced concrete elevator core. The
fundamental period of the building in the N-S direction was calculated to be 3.75 sec. The
damping coefficient was chosen to be 5%.

Fig. 3. Prototype Building

4. EFFECT OF TMD
The TMD was designed using a mass ratio of 0.65% with effective mass ratio of 0.026. The
optimum TMD parameters for the building as per Den Hartog, Weisner and Wirsching are given
in the table below.

4
 Table 1. - Optimum TMD Constants

The prototype building was subjected to the first 30 sec of the N-S component of El Centro 1940
with and without a TMD. Figure 4 compares the linear elastic tip displacement response with
and without an optimum Den Hartog TMD. This figure shows the TMD to have no much effect
on the building's maximum response.

Fig. 4. Earthquake Response of Linear Elastic Model

5. CONCLUSION
Results show that TMD is not much effective in reducing the maximum response of tall
buildings under seismic excitation.

5
 6. REFERENCES

John R. Sladek and Richard E. Klingner(1983), Effect Of Tuned-mass Dampers On Seismic

Response, Journal of Structural Engineering, 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1983)109:8(2004),
2004-2009.