Buffeting response control of a long span cable-stayed bridge during construction using semi-active tuned liquid column dampers

Abstract

The frequency of a traditional tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) depends solely on the length of liquid column, which imposes certain restrictions on its application to long span cable-stayed bridges during construction. The configuration of a cable-stayed bridge varies from different construction stages and so do its natural frequencies. It is thus difficult to apply TLCD with a fixed configuration to the bridge during construction or it is not economical to design a series of TLCD with different liquid lengths to suit for various construction stages. Semi-active tuned liquid column damper (SATLCD) with adaptive frequency tuning capacity is studied in this paper for buffeting response control of a long span cable-stayed bridge during construction. The frequency of SATLCD can be adjusted by active control of air pressures inside the air chamber at the two ends of the container. The performance of SATLCD for suppressing combined lateral and torsional vibration of a real long span cable-stayed bridge during construction stage is numerically investigated using a finite element-based approach. The finite element model of SATLCD is also developed and incorporated into the finite element model of the bridge for predicting buffeting response of the coupled SATLCD-bridge system in the time domain. The investigations show that with a fixed container configuration, the SATLCD with adaptive frequency tuning can effectively reduce buffeting response of the bridge during various construction stages.