TUNED MASS DAMPER

CE 137- D

Hilario, Karl Aileen C.

Lepardo, Hannah Grace N.
Mendoza, Monique Irish B.
Padua, Dennis Kristoffer B.

May 22, 2017

I. Introduction

Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) is one of the solution engineers use to

overcome the effect of lateral loads such as earthquake in different
structures. TMD, a device consisting of a mass, a spring, and a damper, is
attached to a structure to absorb kinetic energy from the system which
results to the reduction of the amplitude of vibration. Basically, the
damper resonates out of phase with the structures motion and causes
energy dissipation in the system. Today, a famous example of a structure
that uses a TMD is the TAIPEI 101 tower in Taiwan which has the worlds
biggest spherical tuned mass damper.

In this project, a pendulum tuned mass damper was created and

analyed. In a pendulum TMD, the floors movement excites the pendulum
attached to it and produces a horizontal force that opposes the floor
motion. The damping comes from the tension of the screw which holds
the pendulum and is acting as the hinge. Tightening na screw will
increase the damping. The mass of the pendulum can be adjusted for
tuning so that the frequency of the pendulum matches the frequency of
the system. Figure 1 shows an equivalent SDOF system represented by
this action.

Figure 1. SDOF representation of using a pendulum TMD.

Under the assumption that the system can be expressed as periodically

varying response convoluted by an exponentially decaying amplitude,
logarithmic decrement ( ) is used to calculate for the damping ratio. To
get the logarithmic decrement, the natural logarithm of the ratio xi/xi+1 is
divided by n, where x is the maximum displacement from equilibrium and
n is the crest number. Using this definition, the damping ratio ( ) can be
expressed as,

4 2 2
II. Objective

To determine the damping ratio of the groups fabricated system with

pendulum tuned mass damper using logarithmic decrement.

III. Materials and Methods

A. Material

The materials used are the following: 1/8 stainless steel round bar,
1inch steel round bar, inch steel round bar, angle bars, screws, nut and
bolts, 4 wheels, hook and eyes, nails, and stretch cords. Materials were all
bought and gathered depending on the cost and availability of the
materials. Machines were also used to personally modify the materials
according to its need for the set-up.

Stainless steel round bars were cut into eight (8) 2-feet that serves as
the legs for the structure and were mounted on a wood board. Wheels
were attached to the board, allowing it to move freely. The top of the
structure is a small plank where a damper is hanged freely. The damper is
made by attaching a 10-inch 1/8 stainless steel round bar to a inch
steel round bar screwed to the angle steel bars attached to the plank. A
inch thick 1-inch steel round bar that serves as the pendulum for the
damper was installed in the 1/8 round bar and was tuned based on the
computations.

To give the structure a free vibration motion, the structure is allowed

to hit the wood set-up. It is connected by stretch cords through the hook
and eyes. Two (2) stretch cords were placed on the side of the structure.
One chord is connected below it to reduce its ability to topple over. The
final set-up is shown in the figures below.

Figure
2. Set-up.

Figure 3. Connection of
the structures to the wood
set-up to induce free
vibration motion.
 Figure 4. Damper connection.
B. Method

In order to obtain the parameters needed to compute the logarithmic

decrement and damping ratio, the two structures, one control and one
variable, are used. The two structures were pulled and released. Since the
base of the structures is connected by stretch cords to the wood set-up,
the base was allowed to hit the wood set-up once. This hit is enough to
subject the structure to a free vibration motion.

To observe the displacement of the two structures, a ruler is placed at

the wall and a video was taken for thorough observation. Through this
video, measurements were determined and the required parameters were
computed.

IV. Results and Discussion

The period of the system without the tuned mass damper was
determined to be approximately 0.53s. Thus, the fundamental frequency
of the system is 1.9 Hz. The displacement against time graph of the
system is shown in Figure 5.

8
6
4
2

Dsplacement (cm) 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10

Time (s)

Figure 5. Displacement vs. Time graph of the system without damper.

 The graph shows that the system alone has its own natural damping
which is caused by the internal friction in its movement. If its natural
damping is not present, then the system would just continue swaying
indefinitely. Using logarithmic decrement, the damping ratio of the
system alone was calculated as 0.06.

The frequency of the pendulum has to match the frequency of the

system. Knowing that the systems frequency is 1.9 Hz, the length of the
pendulum has to be around 7 cm.

It was observed during assembling that if the pendulum is too long or

too short, the desired effect of pendulum damper would not be met.
Instead of reducing the systems amplitude, the pendulum transfers more
kinetic energy to the system. Also, if the bolt is not tight enough, it will
not suffice the desired damping.

The effect of the tuned mass damper to the system is shown in Figure
6.

0
Displacement (cm) 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
-2

-4

-6

-8

Time (s)

Figure 6. Displacement vs. Time graph of the system with damper.

With the tuned mass damper, the computed damping ratio is

approximately 0.1. Also, the period of the whole system decreased to
approximately 0.22 s.

The effect of the damper is more visible in Figure 7.

 Figure 7. Displacement vs. Time graph of the system with and without damper.

Figure 7 shows that the vibration has completely dissipated faster in

the damped system than in the system alone. Also, the displacement
reached by the damped system is relatively shorter than that of the
system without damper. These results basically are what a damper does
to a system or structure.

The results are very rough due to the non-availability of equipment in

determining the motion of the system. Also, the reading may vary from
person-to-person and very small displacement were not recorded due to
the limitations of the alternative method used.

Tuned mass dampers are used in different applications. It may by

installed in tall, slender free-standing structures, such as bridges, which
tend to be excited in one of their mode shapes by lateral forces. Steel
structures where frequencies by machines may cause excitation can also
make use of a TMD. It can also be used in ships that are excited by their
main engines natural frequencies of even by its motion.

V. Summary and Conclusion

This project is similar to what engineers do in the industry. Every
major building includes physical scale model tests in their design phases.
Although the models are not exactly the same as the real building,
wherein parameters may change over time, being able to tune the mass
damper is a requirement. These tuned mass dampers do not necessarily
eliminate movement but it reduces the movement of the building just like
what our model exhibits. Comparing the undamped system to the
damped system, the damped system took a faster time to stop and has a
shorter displacement which is basically what a damper does to a
structure or system.

VI. Recommendation
 For better testing, the use of an accelerometer is suggested to
measure the movement of the model precisely and accurately.

VII. References

Hillhouse, G. (2016, February 14). Tuned Mass Dampers in Skyscrapers.

Retrieved May 21, 2017, from
http://practical.engineering/blog/2016/2/14/tuned-mass-
dampers-in-Skyscrapers

Mishra, G. (n.d.). WHAT IS TUNED MASS DAMPER AND ITS APPLICATIONS?

Retrieved May 21, 2017, from https://theconstructor.org/structural-
engg/tuned-
mass-dampers/1198/theoretical

Practical Engineering [Screen Name]. (2016, June 29). What is a Tuned

Mass Damper? [Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1U4SAgy60c&t=
204s

Matthew James [Screen Name]. (2015, October 11). Logarithmic

Decrement Summary [Video File]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyTaYYNtYc

VIII. Appendices

A. Raw Data
 System System with TMD
time displacement time displacement
(s) (cm) (s) (cm)
0 -7.88 0 -6.98
0.125 6.1 0.125 5
0.4375 -4.4 0.375 -2.3
0.6875 4.3 0.5625 2.7
0.9375 -2.4 0.75 -2
1.25 3 1 1.5
1.625 -1.4 1.25 -1.2
1.9375 1.9 1.5 0.8
2.1875 -1 1.6875 -0.7
2.4375 1.3 1.8125 0.4
2.75 -0.4 2 -0.2

B. Sample Computations

Pendulum Length Logarithmic Decrement

L 1 Xi
T2 ln
g n X i 1
2
T 1 4.3
L g ln
2 1 3
0.532
2 0.36
9.806
2
L 7 cm Logarithmic Decrement

Damping Ratio

4 2
2

0.36

4 2 0.36 2
0.057