Optimizing tuned mass damper parameters to mitigate the torsional vibration of a suspension bridge under pulse-type ground motion: A sensitivity analysis

Abstract

Suspension bridges are structures that because of their long span and high flexibility can be prone to ambient vibrations such as ground motions. They can experience high amplitude vibrations in torsional mode during an earthquake, where a vibration control strategy seems necessary. Recently, control systems have been widely used to mitigate vibration of structures. Tuned mass damper is a passive control system. Its performance and effectiveness have been verified both theoretically and practically. In this study, a tuned mass damper system is used to mitigate the torsional vibration of a suspension bridge. The Vincent Thomas suspension bridge is selected as a case study, and its response is reduced by a tuned mass damper under ten pulse-type records from 10 major worldwide earthquakes. By using sensitivity analysis, a parametric study is carried out to optimize tuned mass damper parameters, namely, mass ratio, gyration radius, tuning frequency, and damping ratio according to the maximum reduction of the response maxima. Finally, the optimum range of each parameter that can give the best performance and provide both operational and economic justification for the implementation of the project is suggested. The numerical results indicate that the optimized tuned mass damper system can substantially reduce the maximum response and vibration time.

Parametric optimization of the Eddy current dampers applied to a suspension bridge considering bi-directional earthquakes

“…With that comes the inevitable excessive vibration induced by external excitations, especially earthquakes, because of the inherent low damping and minor stiffness of the deck (Xie et al, 2020a). To improve the seismic performance of longspan bridges, passive control devices were proposed and became increasingly attractive in both longitudinal and transverse directions (Lavassani et al, 2020;Martínez-Rodrigo and Filiatrault, 2015). They can provide supplemental energy consumption and damping to the bridge, diminishing the structural responses and reducing the damage (Cui et al, 2018(Cui et al, , 2023Hu et al, 2022a;Konar and Ghosh, 2022).…”

Vibration control of suspension bridge due to vertical ground motions

“…Usually, it is tuned to first mode of the structure to mitigate the vibration by the resonance (Debbarma and Das, 2016). A number of scholars have investigated the effectiveness and ability of TMDs on control of civil structures including bridges and buildings (Amini and Doroudi, 2010; Carpineto et al, 2010; Elias and Matsagar, 2017b, 2017c; Hossein Lavassani et al, 2020; Larsena et al, 1995; Matin et al, 2020; Nikkhoo et al, 2019; Pourzeynali and Esteki, 2009; Wang et al, 2014). These articles indicate the promising effect of TMDs to reduce structural response of bridges and buildings.…”

Passive Control of Ultra-Span Twin-Box Girder Suspension Bridges under Vortex-Induced Vibration Using Tuned Mass Dampers: A Sensitivity Analysis

“…The tuned mass damper (TMD) system, a passive mechanical control approach, falls under the third strategy and is frequently employed in suspension bridges to manage vibrations resulting from various load types. Three primary parameters make up a TMD, specifically, mass ratio, tuning frequency, and damping ratio [14,15]. Originally conceived by Frahm [16], the TMD was a spring-mass system that could only dampen vibrations of a single frequency because of its inability to retain excess energy.…”

“…Each finite element consists of two nodes at its endpoints, with multi degrees of freedom including bending rotation, torsional rotation, vertical displacement, and warping as illustrated in Figure 4. Lavasani et al [14] provide a detailed explanation of the computation process, and the dynamic specifications of the bridge are presented in Table 2. In Table 2, TS and TA denote the torsional symmetric and torsional antisymmetric mode shape of the bridge, respectively.…”