Passive Control of Tensegrity Domes Using Tuned Mass Dampers, a Reliability Approach

Abstract

Tensegrity domes are space reticulated pre-stressed systems composed of bars in compression and cables in tension. They are lightweight flexible systems with low structural damping, and thus they are sensitive to vibrations induced by wind or earthquakes. This paper investigates the passive vibration control of a randomly driven tensegrity dome of Geiger’s type using a Tuned Mass Damper (TMD). The parameters of the TMD are optimized based on a reliability strategy. The optimization strategy consists in minimizing a failure probability characterized by the out-crossing, for the first time, of a given threshold value of the vertical displacement of a given node (of the structure) during a time interval. The proposed strategy is compared to other strategies from the literature and showed better capabilities in reducing the vertical vibrations of the cable dome. Indeed, it has been observed that significant reductions have been obtained especially in the vicinity of the off-targeted frequencies where the classical tunings showed low performances. The proposed passive control strategy using a TMD is efficient in reducing the excessive vibrations of tensegrity systems and significantly less expensive than active and semi-active control techniques that are usually used in such a case.