Experimental Research on the Effects of a Tuned Particle Damper on a Viaduct System under Seismic Loads

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary design approach for tuned particle dampers for continuous viaducts. A series of shaking table tests of a 1/10-scale model bridge with and without tuned particle dampers was carried out to evaluate the performance of the system and verify the analysis method. An analytical energy method was established to simulate the behavior of the damper using a finite-element model. The experimental and computational results show that the preliminary design method proposed for tuned particle dampers can be a valuable tool in the application of particle damping in controlling the seismic response of bridges. A tuned particle damper can effectively reduce the seismic response of a continuous viaduct. One of the keys to the performance of a tuned particle damper is the excitation intensity. A tuned particle damper has a wider control frequency band than a single tuned mass damper or a single tuned liquid damper. The simplified method is effective in simulating the behavior of the damper using a finite-element model.