Optimum inelastic tuned mass dampers without using viscous elements for minimizing steady-state vibration of base-excited systems

Abstract

A special type of a tuned mass damper, which consists of a mass and an elasto-plastic spring without using any viscous damper, is used to reduce the steady-state response of structures to base excitation. Previous work of the authors showed that the elasto-plastic tuned mass damper (P-TMD) could help reduce the seismic responses, and a method based on energy equalization was proposed to design it. In this study, the effectiveness of the P-TMD is investigated under harmonic support motion, and a direct approach is developed to find its optimum parameters. To estimate the nonlinear steady-state response of P-TMD-controlled systems, an analytical framework is established using the Fourier series approximation, which is validated by direct numerical integration of the equations of motion. The obtained results for the optimum P-TMD are discussed and compared with those of the optimum elastic tuned mass damper.