Performance of MTMD Systems Based on Realistic Load Contributions due to Walking

Tuned mass dampers (TMD) are widely acknowledged as state-of-the-art solution for mitigating structural vibrations. In this context, the robustness of a TMD system is an essential parameter which describes the sensitivity in regard to deviations in both parameters natural frequency of the empty structure and excitation frequency. Studies can be found revealing that the robustness of a TMD solution can be further increased with a Multi TMD System (MTMD). However, the analyzed scenarios are based on controlled harmonic excitation sources. In case of pedestrian induced vibrations the load process of natural walking is subject to random deviations in both the basic walking parameters and the load parameters. In this study, in order to analyze the performance of MTMD systems for realistic load conditions structural response calculations are performed for different MTMD setups. The respective load time histories are obtained from experiments based on an instrumented walkway. The results lead to the conclusion that within the introduced analysis environment MTMD systems reveal similar effectiveness in regard to vibration mitigation but higher robustness, however, at the expense of the TMD travel where considerable larger displacements are obtained if compared to the single TMD system.

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