Performance of multiple tuned mass dampers for attenuating undesirable oscillations of structures under the ground acceleration

Multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMDs) consisting of many tuned mass dampers (TMDs) with a uniform distribution of natural frequencies are considered for attenuating undesirable vibration of a structure. The MTMD is manufactured by keeping the stiffness and damping constant and varying the mass. The structure is represented by its mode-generalized system in the specific vibration mode being controlled using the mode reduced-order method. The optimum parameters of the MTMD are investigated to delineate the influence of the important parameters on the effectiveness and robustness of the MTMD by conducting a numerical searching technique in two directions. The parameters include: the frequency spacing, average damping ratio, mass ratio and total number. The criterion selected for the optimization is the minimization of the maximum value of the dynamic magnification factor (DMF) of the structure with MTMD (i.e. Min.Max.DMF). In this paper, for the sake of comparison, the MTMD(II), which is made by keeping the mass constant and varying the stiffness and damping coefficient, and a single TMD are also taken into account. It is demonstrated that the optimum frequency spacing of the MTMD is the same as that of the MTMD(II) and the optimum average damping ratio of the MTMD is a little larger than that of the MTMD(II). It is also found that the optimum MTMD is more effective than the optimum MTMD(II) and the optimum single TMD with equal mass. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.