Remediation of Wind-Induced Building Vibrations with Modular Tuned Liquid Damper System

While tall buildings are being constructed at an increasing rate worldwide, a number of new and older structures have experienced excessive wind-induced vibrations. Tuned mass dampers (“TMDs”) can effectively mitigate wind-induced vibrations. Traditional TMDs are however difficult to post-install in existing buildings because they require significant space near the top of the structure and impose large concentrated gravity loads. Thornton Tomasetti has developed a modular TMD system with the objective of simplifying TMD design and installation. The modular TMD consists of off-the-shelf plastic pipes filled with air and water and interconnected to create a resonant system. In an existing structure, the mass of the system can be distributed to occupy space that is already available while minimizing the gravity loads imposed locally. This paper describes the modular TMD system and presents a case study on potential retrofit applications.