A Novel Hybrid Damper for Mitigating Seismic Responses of Mass Irregular Buildings

Buildings could be under wind and earthquake induced excitation during their lifetime. The common practice is to install effective damping systems to reduce the excess vibrations. These systems normally include a sufficient number of dampers installed at several locations depending on the nature of excitation. However, it is not always feasible to install dampers of high mass ratio due to space or building floor plan limitations. In this paper, a novel combination of tuned mass damper (TMD) and tuned liquid damper (TLD) is proposed for reducing the seismic response of mass irregular buildings. This combination may reduce the number of TMDs required for effective vibration control. The use of TLDs can improve the level of vibration control and allow us to use lightweight TMDs. In this study, a TLD -building coupled interaction numerical model is established and the liquid inside the conventional rectangular TLD is discretized by four node-isoparametric finite elements. In addition, the TMD is attached to the different floors of the buildings to determine the vibration capabilities of the hybrid dampers under real earthquake excitations. The numerical study demonstrates a notable reduction in the vibration amplitude of the building related to the proper selection of damper parameters.