The Use of Tuned Mass Absorber to Prevent Overturning of the Rigid Block During Earthquake

Abstract

In the paper, we undertake the topic of stabilization of rigid blocks under seismic excitation. We investigate the influence of tuned mass absorbers (TMAs) on the dynamics of rigid block and check if this well known and widely used device can help to prevent overturning. We use fully nonstationary stochastic earthquake model of ground motion and consider excitation in horizontal direction only. We perform a series of numerical simulations and employ probability approach to analyze the influence of TMA parameters’ on the probability of rigid block’s overturning. The presented method can be used to optimize TMAs parameters to achieve the highest chance that the block will remain standing. We consider structures with symmetric and asymmetric mass distribution. Presented results show that it is possible to design and tune the stabilizing device in such a way that it is highly effective regardless of the rigid block asymmetry.