TUNED LIQUID DAMPER (TLD) FOR SUPPRESSING HORIZONTAL MOTION OF STRUCTURES

A new kind of passive mechanical damper, tuned liquid damper (TLD), is studied that relies upon the motion of shallow liquid in a rigid tank for changing the dynamic characteristics of a structure and dissipating its vibration energy. A nonlinear model of two-dimensional liquid motion inside a rectangular TLD subjected to horizontal motion is developed on the basis of shallow-water wave theory, where the damping of the liquid motion is included semianalytically. Using the model, the response of a structure with TLD is also computed. The liquid motion inside the TLD under harmonic base excitation and, furthermore, the response of a single-degree-of-freedom structure with TLD. subjected to harmonic external force, are experimentally investigated. The agreement is good between the experiment and the prediction.