An improved multi-mode seismic vibration control method using multiple tuned mass dampers

Abstract

Multiple vibration modes of an engineering structure might be excited by earthquake ground motions. Multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMDs) are widely used to control these multi-mode vibrations. However, in the commonly used MTMD system, the mass element in each tuned mass damper (TMD) is normally assumed to be the same. To improve the performance of MTMDs for seismic-induced vibration control, non-uniform MTMD masses are adopted in the present study to improve the mass utilization of TMD, and a location factor is proposed to determine the best location of each TMD in the MTMD system. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through numerical study. The results show that the proposed method effectively reduces the seismic responses of the structure induced by multiple vibration modes.