Application of tuned liquid damper for Controlling structural vibration due to Earthquake excitations

Abstract

Current trends in construction industry demands for taller and lighter structures, which are also more flexible and having quite low damping value. This increases failure possibilities and also, problems from serviceability point of view. Several techniques are available today to minimize the vibration of the structure, out of which concept of using of Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) is a newer one. The TLDs have been used to control the wind induced structural vibration. However, the seismic effective of TLD remain an important issue for the study. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the effectiveness of Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) for controlling seismic vibration of the structure. Finite element elements are used to model the structure and the liquid in the TLD. A computer code is developed in MATLAB to study the response of the structure, the liquid sloshing in the TLD and coupled structure-TLD system. A ten storey and two bay frame structure was analyzed using different ground motions. First one was a sinusoidal loading corresponding to the resonance condition with the fundamental frequency of the structure, second one was corresponding to compatible time history as per response spectra of Indian Standard-1893 (Part -1):2002 for 5% damping at rocky soil. It is observed from the present study that, TLD can be used to control the vibration of the structure due earthquake excitations. Only Tuned Liquid Dampers, which are properly tuned to natural frequency of structure, are more effective in controlling the vibration. The damping effect of TLD decreases with mistuning of the TLD.