Tuned Damping of Balcony Vibration
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28, Issue 3
Abstract
The irregular shape of three large balconies in a performing arts center resulted in areas at the balcony tip and edge susceptible to potentially annoying levels of vibration. To mitigate this effect, the building designers added tuned mass dampers to the underside of each of the three balconies. Proper implementation of tuned mass dampers requires reliable information about the dynamic properties of the structural system. Finite-element models of the structure were constructed and experimentally verified. These models were used to determine the size, frequency, and damping ratio of three tuned mass dampers, two of which targeted the first bending mode of the edge and the remaining one targeted the first bending mode of the tip, for each balcony. The suspensions of the tuned mass dampers were made up of two laminar flow viscous damping units along with eight precompressed helical steel springs. The mass of the tuned dampers were selected as a small percentage of the modal mass of the modes targeted for damping. On completion of the tuned mass dampers installation, the effectiveness of the damping solution was evaluated via further testing.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the owner of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts; Safdie Architects (Somerville, Massachusetts); Arup (New York, New York); and DEICON (Dayton, Ohio). The authors also thank Mike Porter of Porter McGuffie, Inc., for assisting in the conduct of shaker test of the balconies.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28 • Issue 3 • June 2014
Pages: 450 - 457
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 11, 2012
Accepted: Aug 9, 2012
Published online: Aug 22, 2012
Published in print: Jun 1, 2014
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