Effectiveness of Tuned Mass Dampers against Ground Motion Pulses

• Published in: Journal of structural engineering (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 139; no. 2; pp. 188 - 198
• Main Author: Matta, Emiliano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society of Civil Engineers 01.02.2013
• Subjects: Design analysis; Design engineering; Earthquakes; Ground motion; Mathematical analysis; Spectra; Strategy; Technical Papers; Vibration dampers
• ISSN: 0733-9445; 1943-541X
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000629

AbstractIt is known that the effectiveness of tuned mass dampers (TMDs) decreases as the input duration shortens. As a result, their use is commonly discouraged against short-duration, pulse-like ground motions, such as those occurring in near-field (NF) zones in the presence of forward directivity or fling-step effects. Yet a systematic assessment of such control impairment is still missing. In this paper, a recent analytical model of ground motion pulses is applied to the design and evaluation of TMDs against impulsive earthquakes. Based on this model, first, a new optimization method is introduced as an alternative to the classical H∞ approach. Then, the two strategies are tested on single- and multi- degrees-of-freedom linear structures subject both to analytical pulses and to a large set of NF records possessing pulse-like features. The resulting statistical evaluation, expressed by percentile response spectra, shows the pros and cons of a pulse-oriented TMD design and improves the general understanding of TMD performance under impulsive ground motions.