A novel Horizontal Bidirectional Hybrid Damping System (HBHDS) for multi-level vibration control of long-span bridges: A theoretical study

Abstract

This study develops a novel Horizontal Bidirectional Hybrid Damping System (HBHDS) for mitigating the vibration of long-span bridges. It consists of eddy current dampers (ECDs), metallic yielding dampers (MYDs), fuse-lock device (FLD), and a spherical steel bearing (SSB). The ECD and MYD are connected in series through the FLD along the longitudinal direction to form an integrated passive control system together with the SSB. This system can not only mitigate the vibrations caused by service and seismic loads in the longitudinal direction, but also reduce the bridge seismic response when experiencing an earthquake in the transverse direction. The mechanical model of the HBHDS is introduced, and the method for determining the parameters of the HBHDS is given. To verify the superiority of the proposed HBHDS, a case study is performed on a long-span cable-stayed bridge. The numerical results confirm that the HBHDS has an excellent multi-level vibration control capacity, i.e., it can effectively mitigate structural vibrations caused by moving vehicle as well as earthquakes.