OPTIMUM TUNED-MASS DAMPERS FOR MINIMIZING STEADY-STATE RESPONSE OF SUPPORT-EXCITED AND DAMPED SYSTEMS

A numerical searching procedure to find the optimum tuning frequency and damping ratio of the tuned-mass damper which can reduce the steady-state response of damped main systems to a minimum level is developed and applied to the two different harmonic excitation sources, support motion of fixed-displacement amplitude and support motion of fixed-acceleration amplitude. The explicit formulae for these optimum parameters are then derived through a sequence of curve-fitting schemes. It has been found that, as the error of the explicit formulae is negligible, they provide a convenient tool to compute the optimum parameters in engineering applications. The numerical results show that the tuned-mass damper is less effective in reducing the system's response when there is a high level of damping incorporated into the system. It is also found that the optimum tuning frequency is strongly influenced by the damping level of a system, especially in regard to the fixed-acceleration support motion, but the optimum damping ratio of the tuned-mass damper is not sensitive to the damping level of a system. The response of the damped system using the undamped optimum value as the damping of the tuned-mass damper is not much different from the response using the damped optimum value.