Prototype Test and Numerical Analysis of a Shallow Cable with Novel Viscous Inertial Damper

Abstract

As an essential component of offshore bridges, stay cables are prone to vibrations due to their low inherent damping characteristics. Various dampers have been used for cable vibration control; however, the experimental research and theoretical study of inertial dampers on real cables have not been conducted sufficiently. This study aims to investigate the damping performance of a novel viscous inertial damper (VID) and focuses on the frequency-dependent and displacement amplification phenomena of a cable-damper system. Tests were first conducted to verify the energy consumption capacity of a prototype damper. A shallow cable-VID system was established. Theoretically, complex-valued modes were analyzed to determine the influence of the inertial and viscous coefficients on the cable’s frequency and mode damping ratio. The test results and numerical analysis show that the VID has a good damping effect on the shallow cable. Considering multiple adjacent cable modes, the inertial and viscous coefficients can be optimized. After optimizing, the VID can simultaneously maximize both adjacent symmetric and antisymmetric modes’ damping ratios. The two frequencies are almost the same. The displacement amplification of the VID shows that a VID can overcome the shortcomings of displacement loss caused by traditional oil dampers. The implications of these findings of the VID on shallow cable are discussed, which will guide future research and applications of the VID or other inerter dampers.