Numerical investigation on the effectiveness of double tuned mass dampers in structural vibration control

The inferior performance of the single tuned mass damper (TMD) and the complexities involved in the implementation of multiple TMDs in the structure is some of the challenges faced in the field of structural vibration control. The present study introduces Double TMDs’ control strategy which is simple and is more effective than the conventional single TMD strategy. It essentially consists of two discrete TMD units capable of suppressing vibrations in the neighbourhood of the first and second natural frequencies of the structure to be controlled. Numerical investigations done on a five degrees-of-freedom shear building model with different mass ratios reveal that the proposed strategy is superior to single TMD with regard to effectiveness and wider frequency bandwidth of control of floor displacements, floor accelerations and base shear. An investigation on the placement configurations of the Double TMDs is also conducted.