Parametric study and simplified design of tuned mass dampers

This paper summarizes the results of a parametric study performed to enhance the understanding of some important characteristics of tuned mass dampers (TMD), The effect of detuning on some of the TMD parameters on the performance is studied using steady-state harmonic excitation analysis and time-history analysis, The El Centro and Mexico excitations are used for time-history analysis. The effects of tuning criteria and significance of numerical tuning are also studied, The correspondence between the design of a TMD for a SDOF structure and a certain mode of a MDOF structure is drawn to simplify TMD design to control a single mode of a multimodal structure, An example is given to illustrate the design procedure, Investigations are made regarding controlling multiple structural modes using multi-tuned mass dampers (MTMD). (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.