Wind-excited vibrations—Solution by passive dynamic vibration absorbers of different types

Abstract

Passive dynamic vibration absorbers have been used up to now as an effective tool to face wind-excited vibrations of civil engineering structures like high masts, slender bridges and esp. footbridges, etc. Their idea is simple, but the way of application can be different according to the type of structure and to the space where the absorber can be placed—that is why different types of absorbers were developed since the half of last Century. The paper compares the effect of pendulum, ball and sloshing liquid absorbers and assesses the effectiveness of each of them, summing up the experience of the author and of some of his colleagues in the Czech Republic.