Experimental and analytical investigations of the dynamic characteristics of a mold transformer with rotary friction dampers based on shaking table tests

In this study, shaking table tests were performed to investigate the dynamic characteristics of a mold transformer. Based on the test results, rotary friction dampers were developed to mitigate the excessive lateral displacement that occurred along the direction of the weak stiffness axis of the mold transformer. In addition, shaking table tests were performed by attaching friction dampers to both sides of the mold transformer. Based on the shaking table test results, the natural frequency, mode vector, and damping ratio of the mold transformer were derived using the transfer function and half-power bandwidth. The test results indicated that the use of friction dampers can decrease the displacement and acceleration response of the mold transformer. Finally, dynamic structural models were established considering the component connectivity and mass distribution of the mold transformer. In addition, a numerical strategy was proposed to calibrate the stiffness coefficients of the mold transformer, thereby facilitating the relationship between generalized mass and stiffness. The results indicated that the analytical model based on the calibration strategy of stiffness coefficients can reasonably simulate the dynamic behavior of the mold transformer using friction dampers with regard to transfer function, displacement, and acceleration response.