Development of new passive vibration control system in coupled structures with block and tackle

Abstract

An innovative passive vibration control system employed pulley tackle mechanism (Movable Pulley Damper System: MPDS) in coupled structures is proposed in this paper. A cable can be continuously stretched several times to connect the two buildings through the pulley blocks to amplify the relative displacement and provide the high energy absorption efficiency to the damper linked at the middle of the wire. The principle and the theoretical formulation of the system are initially discussed. Also, the effectiveness of the MPDS is examined through the shaking table tests using a scaled-down building model. The experiments demonstrate the ability of the MPDS to mitigate the building response during earthquake excitations as well as the successful amplification of the damping effect. The validity of the mathematical formulation and the equivalent modeling of the MPDS using the truss elements are confirmed by comparing the analytical and the experimental results.