Earthquake Vibration Control of Structures using Tuned Liquid Dampers: Experimental Studies

Abstract

Earlier studies have shown conclusively that a Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) is effective for controlling vibrations in structures subjected to narrow-banded wind excitations. A recent numerical study has shown that if the design parameters of a TLD are properly set, this device could also be very effective for controlling structural vibration to broad-banded earthquake excitations. Here the results of a reasonably comprehensive set of experiments are presented to investigate the overall effectiveness of TLDs and the specific effect of TLD parameters (depth and mass ratios) for earthquake vibration control of structures. Effects of various earthquake ground motions parameters such as amplitude, frequency content, duration of excitation etc. are also evaluated. It is shown that there is good agreement between the numerical simulation and experimental results. This experimental study conclusively shows that a properly designed TLD reduces structural response to broad-band earthquake excitations. It is also observed that effectiveness of TLD increases with increase in mass ratio, depth ratio and amplitude of ground motion.