Development of stiffness-adjustable tuned mass dampers for frequency retuning

Abstract

Tuned mass damper is an attractive strategy to mitigate the vibration of civil engineering structures. However, the performance of a tuned mass damper may show a significant loss due to the frequency detuning effect. Hence, an inerter-induced negative stiffness (apparent mass effect) and magnetic-force-induced positive/negative stiffness are proposed to integrate a stiffness-adjustable vertical tuned mass damper and pendulum tuned mass damper for frequency retuning, respectively. Based on the established differential equations of motion for a vertical tuned mass damper coupled with an inerter and a pendulum tuned mass damper integrated with a magnetic-force-induced positive-/negative-stiffness device, the frequency retuning principles of a vertical tuned mass damper and a pendulum tuned mass damper are, respectively, demonstrated. The frequency retuning strategies for both the vertical tuned mass damper and the pendulum tuned mass damper are confirmed and clarified by model tests. Furthermore, the performance of a retuned vertical tuned mass damper for mitigating vibration of a linear undamped single-degree-of-freedom primary structure is discussed, and the effects of the amplitudes of the pendulum tuned mass damper on magnetic-force-induced stiffness as well as the frequency of the pendulum tuned mass damper are also investigated. Both theoretical analysis and experimental investigations show that the proposed frequency tuning methodologies of tuned mass dampers are efficient and cost-effective with relatively simple configurations.