Dynamic Vibration Absorbers

Dynamic vibration absorbers are widely used for mitigating adverse vibration in mechanical system such as machinery and tall buildings because they are simple, durable, and inexpensive. They do not require sensors or controllers and yet they behave as automatically adaptable devices. Recently, a new the-... 

Conventional dynamic vibration absorbers are composed of a mass, spring, and damper. Although dynamic vibration absorbers do not have sensors or controllers, they can provide vibration mitigation similar to that of actively controlled systems with a complicated sensor, control, and actuator system. Since an absorbers mass/spring/damper forms a single degree of freedom (DOF) vibration system, it consequently has a single resonant frequency and can exhibit an amplified response at this frequency. Dynamic absorbers behave similar to a system with a sensor to detect the specific frequency and a controller to amplify the vibration. Therefore, the absorbers natural frequency should be carefully tuned to a specific frequency for which the vibration amplitude of the host structure is to be reduced. The tuned frequency usually corresponds to natural modes and harmonically excited vibrations of a system. 

Ropeways are commonly used for skiing and sightseeing venues and urban transportation. The swing of ropeway carriers is easily induced by wind loading, rendering them inoperable for wind speeds in excess of about 15 m/s. This problem has attracted much research attention in the past few decades. The research work has primarily focused on two methods to reduce swing that involve a dynamic vibration absorber and a gyroscope. 

Viana, F. A. C., Kotinda, G. I., Rade, D. A., Steffen, V. (2008). Tuning dynamic vibration absorbers by using ant colony optimization. Computers Structures, 86, 1539-1549. doi 10.1016/j.comp-struc.2007.05.009... 

Korenev, B. G., Reznikov, L. M. (1993). Dynamic vibration absorbers Theory and technical applications (1st ed.). England John Wiley Sons Ltd. 

Wong, W. O., Cheung, Y. L. (2008). Optimal design of a damped dynamic vibration absorber for vibration control of structure excited by ground motion. Engineering Structures, 30, 282-286. doi 10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.03.007... 

Most of the above studies have related to the use of dynamic vibration absorbers in mechanical systems. While application ofthese systems in civil engineering structures, frequently known as tuned mass damper (TMD) systems, is expected to be different. In last decades, many research studies have been performed to show the effectiveness of the TMD system and the other control devices, derived from TMD, such as semi-active tuned mass dampers (STMDs) and active tuned mass dampers (ATMDs) in civil engineering community in reducing the structural responses, some of which are reviewed in the following. 

Abe, M., Igusa, T (1996). Semiactive dynamic vibration absorbers for controlling transient response. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 198, 547-569. doi 10.1006/jsvi. 1996.0588... 

Ormondroyd, J., Den Hartog, J. P. (1928). The theory of the dynamic vibration absorber. Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 50, 9-22. 

TLDs (Tuned Liquid Damper systems) dissipate energy using a secondary mass in the form of a body of liquid introduced into the structural system and tuned in such a way to act as a dynamic vibration absorber. TLDs are particularly effective for the suppression of lateral vibrations (e.g., due to wind or pedestrial loads) and were used for vibration control of the Toda Park Bridge in Japan. Similar devices to TLDs are TSDs (Tuned Sloshing Dampers) and TLCDs (Tuned Liquid Column Dampers). 

Hunt JB (1979) Dynamic vibration absorbers. Mechanical Engineering Publications, London Ibrahim R (2008) Recent advances in nonlinear passive vibration isolators. J Sound Vib 314(3) 371-452 Ibrahim RA (2009) Vibro-impact dynamics modeling, mapping and applications, vol 43. Springer, Berlin... 

Ormondroyd J (1928) Theory of the dynamic vibration absorber. Trans ASME 50 9-22 Riidinger F (2007) Tuned mass damper with nonlinear viscous damping. J Sound Vib 300(3) 932-948 Sadek F, Mohraz B, Taylor AW, Chung RM (1997) A method of estimating the parameters of tuned mass dampers for seismic applications. Earthquake Eng Struct Dynam 26(6) 617-636 Sladek JR, Klingner RE (1983) Effect of tuned-mass dampers on seismic response. J Struct Eng 109(8) 2004-2009... 

Chatterjee S (2008) On the design criteria of dynamic vibration absorbers for controlling friction-induced oscillations. J Vib Control 14(3) 397-415... 

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