Seismic Vibration Mitigation of a Cable-Stayed Bridge with Asymmetric Pounding Tuned Mass Damper

In order to mitigate the seismic response of a cable-stayed bridge, a new type damping device named asymmetric pounding tuned mass damper (APTMD) is developed in this paper on the basis of the traditional symmetric pounding tuned mass damper. The novel APTMD has three parameters to be determined: the left-side gap, the right-side gap, and the frequency ratio. A numerical model of the APTMD damping system is established with consideration of both the computational efficiency and accuracy to enable the parametric optimization of the damper. The numerical model is based on a simplified model of the cable-stayed bridge and a nonlinear pounding force model. The genetic algorithm is utilized for the optimization of the damper. Afterwards, the cable-stayed bridge is subjected to 20 recorded ground motions to evaluate the vibration control effectiveness of the APTMD. Four systems are considered: (1) without dampers; (2) with a TMD; (3) with a PTMD; and (4) with an APTMD. Time history analysis reveals the following: (1) those dampers can all effectively suppress the vibration of the bridge and (2) the vibration control effectiveness of the APTMD is slightly better than the TMD and the PTMD.