Numerical investigation of structural models equipped with tuned liquid damper

Abstract

Tuned liquid dampers (TLDs) are introduced in structural systems to suppress vibration of the structure due to dynamic actions. Using a grid-based Finite Volume Method-Finite Element Method (FVM/FEM), efficiency of TLDs of cylindrical and rectangular geometries was evaluated by performing a two-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis. The nonlinear sloshing response of fluid was simulated by employing a three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equation as the governing equation and occurrence of wave breaking was accounted by using Volume of Fluid (VOF) method for free surface tracking. Utilizing the developed numerical model, a series of three-dimensional transient analysis were conducted on a structure with and without TLDs aiming to investigate effect of base excitation amplitude. The result show that maximum performance of TLDs at resonance is obtained when the forcing ratio is limited to 0.1, and for this case, both cylindrical and rectangular TLDs displayed comparable efficiency. Effect of excitation frequency fe was also investigated under a wide range of the forcing ratio showing that as fe increases, the natural frequency of coupled TLD-structural system approaches the natural frequency of un-damped structural system.