ISEC 10


STUDY OF A MULTIPLE-TUNED MASS DAMPER FOR EXCESSIVE FLOOR VIBRATIONS MITIGATION

MEHDI SETAREH, STEPHANIE RENARD


Abstract

Excessive vibration of architectural structures due to human movements has become an important serviceability issue. Tuned Mass Dampers or Vibration Absorbers have been used to mitigate the problem. This paper presents studies on an easy to fabricate, assemble and tune Multiple Tuned Mass Damper (MTMD) that can alleviate vibrations due to the excitations of several modes of a floor system. Using a test floor at the Virginia Tech Vibration Testing Laboratory, a number of experiments were conducted with the MTMD active and inactive. Different excitations generated by an electrodynamic shaker, and people walking on the floor were used. The vibration tests were repeated at various times to check the consistency of the MTMD performance. The measured reduction in floor vibrations were compared to those predicted based on the analytical equations. The results have shown that the device is effective in reducing floor vibrations due to human movements in spite of its small mass compared to the mass of the test floor.

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