• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1071-1091
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• 2014

Pounding of adjacent structures are always a notable reason for damages after strong ground motions, but it is already unforeseen detail in newly constructed structures. Thus, several approaches have been proposed in order to prevent the pounding of structures. By using optimally tuned mass dampers, it is possible to decrease the displacement vibrations of structures. But in adjacent structures, the response of both structures must be considered in the objective function of optimization process. In this paper, two different designs of Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) are investigated. The first design covers independent TMDs on both structures. In the second design, adjacent structures are coupled by a TMD on the top of the structures. Optimum TMD parameters are found by using the developed optimization methodology employing harmony search algorithm. The proposed method is presented with single degree of freedom and multiple degree of freedom structures. Results show that the coupled design is not effective on multiple degree of freedom adjacent structures. The coupled design is only effective for rigid structures with a single degree of freedom while the use of independent TMDs are effective on both rigid and flexural structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.603-622
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• 2008

This work deals with the design optimization of tuned mass damper (TMD) devices used for mitigating vibrations in high-rise towers subjected to seismic accelerations. A stochastic approach is developed and the excitation is represented by a stationary filtered stochastic process. The effectiveness of the vibration control strategy is evaluated by expressing the objective function as the reduction factor of the structural response in terms of displacement and absolute acceleration. The mechanical characteristics of the tuned mass damper represent the design variables. Analyses of sensitivities are carried out by varying the input and structural parameters in order to assess the efficiency of the TMD strategy. Variations between two different criteria are also evaluated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.453-461
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• 2017

This paper presents the series multiple tuned mass dampers (STMDs) to suppress the resonant vibrations of railway bridges under the passage of high-speed trains (HSTs). A STMD device consisting of two spring-mass-damper units connected each other in series is installed on the bridge. In solution, bridge is modeled as a simply-supported Euler-Bernoulli beam with constant cross-section, and vehicle is simulated as a series of moving forces with constant speed. By the assumed mode method, the governing equations of motion of the beam-TMD device coupled system traversed by a moving train are obtained. The optimum values for the parameters of the STMD device are obtained for the criterion based on the minimization of the maximum dynamic displacement of the beam at its midspan. Single TMD and multiple TMDs in parallel are also considered for demonstration of the STMD device's performance. The results show that STMDs are effective in bridge vibration suppression and robust to parameters' change in the main system and the absorber itself.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-74
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• 2017

One of the most reliable and simplest tools for structural vibration control in civil engineering is Tuned Mass Damper, TMD. Provided that the frequency and damping parameters of these dampers are tuned appropriately, they can reduce the vibrations of the structure through their generated inertia forces, as they vibrate continuously. To achieve the optimal parameters of TMD, many different methods have been provided so far. In old approaches, some formulas have been offered based on simplifying models and their applied loadings while novel procedures need to model structures completely in order to obtain TMD parameters. In this paper, with regard to the nonlinear decision-making of fuzzy systems and their enough ability to cope with different unreliability, a method is proposed. Furthermore, by taking advantage of both old and new methods a fuzzy system is designed to be operational and reduce uncertainties related to models and applied loads. To design fuzzy system, it is required to gain data on structures and optimum parameters of TMDs corresponding to these structures. This information is obtained through modeling MDOF systems with various numbers of stories subjected to far and near field earthquakes. The design of the fuzzy systems is performed by three methods: look-up table, the data space grid-partitioning, and clustering. After that, rule weights of Mamdani fuzzy system using the look-up table are optimized through genetic algorithm and rule weights of Sugeno fuzzy system designed based on grid-partitioning methods and clustering data are optimized through ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System). By comparing these methods, it is observed that the fuzzy system technique based on data clustering has an efficient function to predict the optimal parameters of TMDs. In this method, average of errors in estimating frequency and damping ratio is close to zero. Also, standard deviation of frequency errors and damping ratio errors decrease by 78% and 4.1% respectively in comparison with the look-up table method. While, this reductions compared to the grid partitioning method are 2.2% and 1.8% respectively. In this research, TMD parameters are estimated for a 15-degree of freedom structure based on designed fuzzy system and are compared to parameters obtained from the genetic algorithm and empirical relations. The progress up to 1.9% and 2% under far-field earthquakes and 0.4% and 2.2% under near-field earthquakes is obtained in decreasing respectively roof maximum displacement and its RMS ratio through fuzzy system method compared to those obtained by empirical relations.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.363-388
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• 2015

For controlling the vibration of specific building structure with large span, a practical method for the design of MTMD was developed according to the characteristics of structures subjected to wind loads. Based on the model of analyzing wind-induced response of large-span structure with MTMD, the optimization method of multiple tuned mass dampers for large-span roof structures subjected to wind loads was established, in which the applicable requirements for strength and fatigue life of TMD spring were considered. According to the method, the controlled modes and placements of TMDs in MTMD were determined through the quantitative analysis on modal contribution to the wind-induced dynamic response of structure. To explore the characteristics of MTMD, the parametric analysis on the effects of mass ratio, damping ratio, central tuning frequency ratio and frequency range of MTMD, was performed in the study. Then the parameters of MTMD were optimized through genetic algorithm and the optimized MTMD showed good dynamic characteristics. The robustness of the optimized MTMD was also investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.5
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• pp.647-661
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• 2023

It is recognized that the installation of energy dissipation devices, such as the tuned mass damper (TMD), decreases the dynamic response of structures, however, the best parameters of each device persist hard to determine. Unlike many works that perform only a deterministic optimization, this work proposes a complete methodology to minimize the dynamic response of footbridges by optimizing the parameters of multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) taking into account uncertainties present in the parameters of the structure and also of the human excitation. For application purposes, a steel footbridge, based on a real structure, is studied. Three different scenarios for the MTMD are simulated. The proposed robust optimization problem is solved via the Circle-Inspired Optimization Algorithm (CIOA), a novel and efficient metaheuristic algorithm recently developed by the authors. The objective function is to minimize the mean maximum vertical displacement of the footbridge, whereas the design variables are the stiffness and damping constants of the MTMD. The results showed the excellent capacity of the proposed methodology, reducing the mean maximum vertical displacement by more than 36% and in a computational time about 9% less than using a classical genetic algorithm. The results obtained by the proposed methodology are also compared with results obtained through traditional TMD design methods, showing again the best performance of the proposed optimization method. Finally, an analysis of the maximum vertical acceleration showed a reduction of more than 91% for the three scenarios, leading the footbridge to acceleration values below the recommended comfort limits. Hence, the proposed methodology could be employed to optimize MTMD, improving the design of footbridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2017

An effective design approach for Multiple Tuned Mass Dampers (MTMDs) in pedestrian bridges was proposed by utilizing the transfer function to obtain each TMD's optimum stiffness and damping. A systematic simulation of pedestrian excitations was described. The motion equation of a typical MTMD system attached to a Multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system was presented, and the transfer function from the input pedestrian excitations to the output acceleration responses was defined. By solving the minimum norm of the transfer function, the parameters of the MTMD which resulted in the minimum overall responses can be obtained. Two applications of lightly damped pedestrian bridges attached with MTMD showed that MTMDs designed through this method can significantly reduce the structural responses when subjected to pedestrian excitations, and the vibration control effects were better than the MTMD when it was considered as being composed of equal number and mass ratios of TMDs designed by classical Den Hartog method.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.6
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• pp.747-762
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• 2019

Based on the ball-screw mechanism, a tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD) has been proposed, which has functions of amplifying physical mass of the system and frequency tuning. Considering the sensitivity of a single TVMD's effectiveness to frequency mistuning like that of the conventional tuned mass damper (TMD) and according to the concept of the conventional multiple tuned mass damper (MTMD), in the present paper, multiple tuned mass viscous dampers (MTVMD) consisting of many tuned mass dampers (TVMD) with a uniform distribution of natural frequencies are considered for attenuating undesirable vibration of a structure. The MTVMD is manufactured by keeping the stiffness and damping constant and varying the mass associated with the lead of the ball-screw type inerter element in the damper. The structure is represented by its mode-generalized system in a specific vibration mode controlled using the mode reduced-order method. Modal properties and fundamental characteristics of the MTVMD-structure system are investigated analytically with the parameters, i.e., the frequency band, the average damping ratio, the tuning frequency ratio, the total number of TVMD and the total mass ratio. It is found that there exists an optimum set of the parameters that makes the frequency response curve of the structure flattened with smaller amplitudes in a wider input frequency range. The effectiveness and robustness of the MTVMD are also discussed in comparison with those of the usual single TVMD (STVMD) and the results shows that the MTVMD is more effective and robust with the same level of total mass.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.449-466
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• 2019

Cable-stayed bridges are attractive due to their beauty, reducing material consumption, less harm to the environment and so on, in comparison with other kinds of bridges. As a massive structure with long period and low damping (0.3 to 2%) under many dynamic loads, these bridges are susceptible to fatigue, serviceability disorder, damage or even collapse. Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) is a suitable controlling system to reduce the vibrations and prevent the threats in such bridges. In this paper, Multi Tuned Mass Damper (MTMD) system is added to the Ahvaz cable stayed Bridge in Iran, to reduce its seismic vibrations. First, the bridge is modeled in SAP2000 followed with result verification. Dead and live loads and the moving loads have been assigned to the bridge. Then the finite element model is developed in OpenSees, with the goal of running a nonlinear time-history analysis. Three far-field and three near-field earthquake records are imposed to the model after scaling to the PGA of 0.25 g, 0.4 g, 0.55 g and 0.7 g. Two MTMD systems, passive and active, with the number of TMDs from 1 to 8, are placed in specific points of the main span of bridge, adding a total mass ratio of 1 to 10% to the bridge. The parameters of the TMDs are optimized using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Also, the optimum force for active control is achieved by Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC). The results showed that the maximum displacement of the center of the bridge main span reduced 33% and 48% respectively by adding passive and active MTMD systems. The RMS of displacement reduced 37% and 47%, the velocity 36% and 42% and also the base shear in pylons, 27% and 47%, respectively by adding passive and active systems, in the best cases.