Passive, active, and semi-active series tuned mass dampers

Abstract

This paper is a comprehensive study of series tuned mass damper (TMDs) for vibration mitigation in passive, active, and semi-active manners. Recently, the authors proposed a novel configuration of TMD with multiple auxiliary absorbers connected to the primary structure in series, and proved that passive series TMDs are more effective and robust than other types of TMDs. Here we further extend the study to active and semi-active controls using LQG and clipped algorithms. The advantages of series TMDs are further highlighted in comparison with the classic TMD. Numerical simulations based on the parameters of Taipei 101 tower are carried out. It is founded that in the passive implementation we can reduce the total mass requirement by 40%, and decrease the damping coefficient to 1/30. We also found that in the active and semi-active manners, the requirement of actuation force is reduced to only 1/4 while achieving the same or better performance.