An Experimental Investigation on Sliding Tuned Liquid Column Damper for Mitigating Vibrations in Short-Period Structural Systems

Abstract

In the context of structural control, the Tuned Liquid Column Damper (TLCD) is among the most popular passive control strategies for mitigating unwanted vibrations in structures subjected to dynamic loads like wind and earthquakes. However, being long-period systems, their adaptability is usually constrained to flexible structures. Therefore, to broaden their application to structures with shorter periods, earlier research explored a translational spring-connected variant of TLCD. This device is denoted here as the Sliding TLCD (STLCD). It comprises a conventional TLCD, which is a U-shaped container filled with fluid, capable of sliding on a linear guide track and linked to the structure through a spring-dashpot arrangement. This flexible mounting enables the tuning of the device to a more extensive array of structural systems. Nevertheless, this configuration has solely been examined mainly from a theoretical perspective. Hence, in this work, the dynamics and the efficacy of the proposed device are experimentally assessed using shake table experiments on a scaled structural system endowed with the STLCD, with a primary focus on diminishing structural accelerations. The accuracy of the mathematical formulation is assessed in time and frequency domains through an experimental campaign performed at the Laboratory of Experimental Dynamics, University of Palermo (Italy). Finally, a comparative analysis is conducted aiming at measuring the positive impact deriving from the application of the STLCD for vibration reduction of short-period structural systems under resonance conditions with respect to the uncontrolled counterpart and traditional devices such as TLCDs and Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs).