Massimiliano De Iuliis

Robust Design of a Single Tuned Mass Damper for Controlling Torsional Response of Asymmetric-Plan Systems

A new robust design methodology to control the seismic performance of asymmetric structures equipped with a Single Tuned Mass Damper (STMD) is presented in this article. This design approach aims to control the seismic response of such systems by reducing both flexible-and stiff-edge maximum displacement. The dynamic problem has been investigated in the state space representation showing that the TMD works as a closed-loop feedback control action. A synthetic index to estimate the seismic performance of the main system has been defined by using H∞ norm. Wide-ranging parametric numerical experimentation has been carried out to obtain design formulae for the STMD in order to minimize such a performance index. These formulae allow for a simple design of STMD position and stiffness to optimally control both translational and rotational motion components, whereas two mass devices are generally considered to improve the seismic performance of asymmetric structural systems The effectiveness and efficiency of the obtained design formulae have been tested by investigating the dynamic behavior of the asymmetric structure after being subjected to different recorded seismic inputs.