Exploring energy harvesting and vibration mitigation in tall buildings accounting for wind and seismic loads

Abstract

With the changing climate and the limited supply of fossil fuels available for global energy use, much research has been done to develop innovative methods of producing clean and renewable energy. Out of the various energy sources, wind forces can cause tall buildings to undergo significant vibrations presenting a potential source of clean and renewable energy for buildings and the power grid. To mitigate wind-induced vibrations in tall buildings, viscous dampers have been widely utilized, which, unlike tuned-mass dampers, are also effective in mitigating earthquake-induced vibrations. Contrary to conventional designs, this research explores the use of energy harvesting transducers, in place of viscous dampers, as a means of not only mitigating vibrations under extreme loading conditions (e.g. earthquakes), but also harvesting energy from wind induced vibrations during service conditions and converting it to electricity. This research demonstrates the often conflicting requirements for supplemental damping related to energy harvesting (EH) from wind loads under service conditions vs. vibration mitigation (VM) under extreme events (e.g., earthquakes). Specifically, this research shows that large damping is usually required for VM, whereas small or moderate damping is often required to maximize EH. In doing so, this research develops, and validates using test data, a nonlinear model for an electromagnetic EH transducer, quantifies the EH potential of a selected tall building as a function of the supplemental damping and wind speed showing that EH power generation can reach kWs (as opposed to W), and assesses the seismic performance of the same building as a function of the supplemental damping for two seismic hazard levels. The findings of this research will support future studies pursuing the concept of energy harvesting in structural design.