Application of electromagnetic tuned mass damper with flywheels for controlling building structure vibration

Abstract This study investigates a novel electromagnetic tuned mass damper with flywheels (EM‐FW‐TMD) system for reducing building structure vibration. The EM‐FW‐TMD system comprises a tuned mass damper (TMD) system with an electromagnetic (EM) damper and flywheels (FW). The EM damping coefficient and inertance of the EM‐FW‐TMD are adjustable. A prototype EM‐FW‐TMD device is fabricated and tested to validate its adjustability. Sliding‐ and pendulum‐type EM‐FW‐TMD systems with various inerter configurations are investigated. The equations of motion for single‐ and multiple‐degree‐of‐freedom structures in which the two EM‐FW‐TMD systems are installed are derived. A parameter optimization method that considers inertance is proposed for the EM‐FW‐TMD systems. The control performance of the two EM‐FW‐TMD systems is extensively compared. Furthermore, for frequency detuning, a parameter redesign method is proposed for adjusting the inertance and EM damping coefficient of both types of EM‐FW‐TMD systems; the results indicate that the detuning effect can be significantly mitigated by this retuning method.