Tuned Mass Dampers in Tall Buildings: A Practical Performance-Based Design Approach
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 28, Issue 1
Abstract
Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are increasingly being used to reduce the motion of tall buildings during common wind events. Despite TMDs receiving extensive theoretical research for many decades, dissemination of the practical aspects of designing and installing these devices is severely lacking. Since they are relatively new to the high-rise construction industry, TMD installations may be viewed by design and construction teams as having considerable risk. This paper describes the process of implementing a TMD in a tall building to demystify the devices for practicing structural engineers, architects, general contractors, and owners. It is hoped that this demystification will help these parties understand and control the real and perceived risks associated with TMD implementations. Since prescriptive, code-based procedures are unsuitable for TMD design, a performance-based design approach must be used to ensure the TMD attains specified performance objectives. The TMD implementation process is described in four phases: concept design, detailed design, fabrication and installation, and tuning and commissioning. This paper does not present new theoretical or experimental research but instead provides a broad, practical overview of real-world TMD installations for practitioners. The content of this paper has been obtained from the design and installation of dozens of TMDs in tall buildings around the world.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
No data, models, or code were generated or used during the study.
References
AISC. 2017. Steel construction manual. Chicago: AISC.
ASCE. 2017. Minimum design loads and associated criteria for buildings and other structures. Reston, VA: ASCE.
ASCE. 2019. Prestandard for performance—Based wind design. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Asmussen, J. C., S. R. Ibrahim, and R. Brincker. 1998. “Random decrement: Identification of structures subjected to ambient excitation.” In Proc., Int. Modal Analysis Conf.–IMAC, 914–921. Bethel, CT: Society for Experimental Mechanics.
Campbell, S., K. C. S. Kwok, P. A. Hitchcock, K. T. Tse, and H. Y. Leung. 2007. “Field measurements of natural periods of vibration and structural damping of wind-excited tall residential buildings.” Wind Struct. 10 (5): 401–420. https://doi.org/10.12989/was.2007.10.5.401.
CISC (Canadian Institute of Steel Construction). 2021. Handbook of steel construction. Markham, ON, Canada: CISC.
Cole, H. A. 1971. Failure detection of a space shuttle wing flutter model by random decrement. Moffett Field, CA: NASA.
Edwards, J. D., B. V. Jayawant, W. R. C. Dawson, and D. T. Wright. 1999. “Permanent-magnet linear eddy-current brake with a non-magnetic reaction plate.” IEEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl. 146 (6): 627–631. https://doi.org/10.1049/ip-epa:19990574.
Frahm, H. 1911. US Patent—989958–Device for damping vibration of bodies. Alexandria, VI: United States Patent Office.
Fu, J. Y., Q. S. Li, J. Wu, Y. Q. Xiao, and L. L. Song. 2008. “Field measurements of boundary layer wind characteristics and wind-induced responses of super-tall buildings.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 96 (8–9): 1332–1358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2008.03.004.
Griffis, L. 1993. “Serviceability limit states under wind load.” Eng. J. Am. Inst. Steel Constr. 30 (1): 1–16.
Hartog, J. P. 1956. Mechanical vibrations. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Irwin, P., R. Denoon, and D. Scott. 2013. Wind tunnel testing of high-rise buildings. London: Routledge.
Irwin, P., J. Garber, and E. Ho. 2005. “Integration of wind tunnel data with full scale wind climate.” In Proc., 10th Americas Conf. on Wind Engineering. Kanagawa, Japan: International Association for Wind Engineering.
Irwin, P., J. Kilpatrick, J. Robinson, and A. Frisque. 2008. “Wind and tall buildings: Negatives and positives.” Struct. Des. Tall Special Build. 17 (5): 915–928. https://doi.org/10.1002/tal.482.
Irwin, P., and B. Myslimaj. 2008. “Practical experience with wind-tunnel predicted tall building motions.” IABSE Congress Rep. 17 (13): 296–297. https://doi.org/10.2749/222137908796292650.
Irwin, P. A., L. A. Griffis, and W. F. Baker. 2019. Serviceability design of tall buildings under wind load. Redwood City, CA: Applied Technology Council.
Irwin, P. A., and V. L. Sifton. 1998. “Risk considerations for internal pressures.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 77–78 (98): 715–723. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-6105(98)00186-X.
ISO 10137. 2007. Bases for design of structures—Serviceability of buildings and walkways against vibrations. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization.
Kareem, A., T. Kijewski, and Y. Tamura. 1999. “Mitigation of motions of tall buildings with specific examples of recent applications.” Wind Struct. 2 (3): 201–251. https://doi.org/10.12989/was.1999.2.3.201.
Lago, A., D. Trabucco, and A. Wood. 2018. Damping technologies for tall buildings: Theory, design guidance and case studies. Cambridge, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Lee, C. S., D. Li, T. C. Haskett, A. W. Smith, and D. Kelly. 2019. “Case study of performance of a tuned mass damper with an eddy current damping system for building motion control in wind.” In Proc., Annual Conf.–Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. Point Claire, QC, Canada: Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.
Li, Q. S., L.-H. Zhi, A. Y. Tuan, C.-S. Kao, S.-C. Su, and C.-F. Wu. 2011. “Dynamic behavior of Taipei 101 tower: Field measurement and numerical analysis.” J. Struct. Eng. 137 (1): 143–155. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000264.
Love, J. S., and T. C. Haskett. 2016. “The heat loads of a tuned mass damper.” In Proc., Annual Conf.–Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. Point Claire, QC, Canada: Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.
Love, J. S., and T. C. Haskett. 2019. “Measuring inherent structural damping of structure-TMD systems.” Eng. Struct. 196 (Jun): 109300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109300.
Love, J. S., and T. C. Haskett. 2022a. “Foiled by friction—Assessing friction impacts on TMD performance.” In Proc., 14th Americas Conf. on Wind Engineering. Lubbock, TX: American Association for Wind Engineering.
Love, J. S., and T. C. Haskett. 2022b. “The practical effects of friction for tuned mass dampers installed in tall buildings.” Eng. Struct. 265 (May): 114495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.114495.
Love, J. S., T. C. Haskett, and B. Morava. 2018. “Effectiveness of dynamic vibration absorbers implemented in tall buildings.” Eng. Struct. 176 (Sep): 776–784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.09.050.
Love, J. S., and B. Morava. 2021. “Practical experience with full-scale performance verification of dynamic vibration absorbers installed in tall buildings.” Int. J. High-Rise Build. 10 (2): 85–92. https://doi.org/10.21022/IJHRB.2021.10.2.85.
Love, J. S., B. Morava, J. K. Robinson, and T. C. Haskett. 2021. “Tuned sloshing dampers in tall buildings: A practical performance—Based design approach.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 26 (3): 04021016. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SC.1943-5576.0000582.
Love, J. S., and M. J. Tait. 2015. “The peak response distributions of structure–DVA systems with nonlinear damping.” J. Sound Vib. 348 (Jun): 329–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2015.03.020.
Love, J. S., and M. J. Tait. 2017. “Estimating the added effective damping of SDOF systems incorporating multiple dynamic vibration absorbers with nonlinear damping.” Eng. Struct. 130 (Apr): 154–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2016.10.006.
Love, J. S., and Z. J. Taylor. 2019. “A method to generate dynamic vibration absorber load combinations.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 194 (Aug): 103977. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2019.103977.
Lu, X., Q. Zhang, D. Weng, Z. Zhou, S. Wang, S. A. Mahin, S. Ding, and F. Qian. 2017. “Improving performance of a super tall building using a new eddy-current tuned mass damper.” Struct. Control Health Monit. 24 (3): e1882. https://doi.org/10.1002/stc.1882.
Lu, Z., B. Huang, Q. Zhang, and X. Lu. 2018. “Experimental and analytical study on vibration control effects of eddy-current tuned mass dampers under seismic excitations.” J. Sound Vib. 421 (Jan): 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2017.10.035.
McNamara, R. J. 1977. “Tuned mass dampers for buildings.” J. Struct. Div. 103 (9): 1785–1798. https://doi.org/10.1061/JSDEAG.0004721.
Morava, B., T. Haskett, and A. Smith. 2012. “Enhancing the serviceability performance of tall buildings using supplemental damping systems.” Ingegneria Sismica 29 (1): 60–70.
NBCC. 2015. National building code of Canada. Ottawa: National Research Council of Canada.
Soong, T. T., and G. Dargush. 1997. Passive energy dissipation systems in structural engineering. New York: Wiley.
Tamboli, A. R. 2014. Tall and supertall buildings: Planning and design. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Tamura, Y., and A. Kareem. 2013. Advanced structural wind engineering. Berlin: Springer.
Vandiver, J. K., A. B. Dunwoody, R. B. Campbell, and M. F. Cook. 1982. “A mathematical basis for the random decrement vibration signature analysis technique.” J. Mech. Des. 104 (2): 307–313. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3256341.
Vickery, B. J., N. Isyumov, and A. G. Davenport. 1983. “The role of damping, mass and stiffness in the reduction of wind effects on structures.” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 11 (1–3): 285–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-6105(83)90107-1.
Warburton, G. B. 1982. “Optimum absorber parameters for various combinations of response and excitation parameters.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn. 10 (3): 381–401. https://doi.org/10.1002/eqe.4290100304.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 22, 2021
Accepted: Jul 7, 2022
Published online: Sep 29, 2022
Published in print: Feb 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Building design
- Buildings
- Conceptual design
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Continuum mechanics
- Damping
- Design (by type)
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- High-rise buildings
- Motion (dynamics)
- Performance-based design
- Solid mechanics
- Structural design
- Structural dynamics
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Wind engineering
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- J. S. Love, B. Morava, T. C. Haskett, Evaluation of Modal Correlation Effects on Peak Spatial Accelerations of Structure-Dynamic Vibration Absorber Systems, Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, 10.1061/PPSCFX.SCENG-1451, 29, 3, (2024).