Damping cable vibration for a cable-stayed bridge using adjustable fluid dampers

Passive fluid damper is one of most widely used control devices for damping vibration of stay cables in a cable-stayed bridge in practice. However, each stay cable features unique dynamic characteristics and requires a specific damper to achieve the best control performance, which engenders many troubles in manufacture, implementation and maintenance of dampers. This paper presents a new approach for damping vibration of stay cables in a cable-stayed bridge by using adjustable fluid dampers. The principle and main features of adjustable fluid dampers with shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators are first introduced. The solution of a taut cable with the adjustable fluid damper described by the Maxwell model is provided. A most favorable design principle is then proposed for selecting the least types of adjustable fluid dampers for damping vibration of a few hundreds stay cables in a cable-stayed bridge. A case study of stay cables in a super long span cable-stayed bridge is finally performed, demonstrating that only two types of adjustable fluid dampers are required for damping vibration of all stay cables in the bridge.