Experimental study on performance of tuned liquid column damper in suppressing pitching vibration of structures

Tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) was developed mainly for suppressing horizontal motion of building structures. No relevant research has been found on the suppression of structural pitching vibration by using TLCD. This paper thus presents a detailed experimental investigation on the possibility and effectiveness of applying TLCD to reduce pitching vibration of structures. A theoretical model of TLCD-structure interaction under pitching vibration is first presented to guide the experiments. Then, a large scale experimental model simulating TLCD-structure interaction is designed and a series of free and forced vibration experiments are conducted using different TLCD configurations and parameters. The free vibration experiments indicate that the system damping can be significantly increased by installing the TLCD. The forced vibration experiments show that the peak value of the structural pitching vibration can be effectively mitigated. From the experiments, the influences of various TLCD parameters on control effectiveness and performance are determined and the optimum control parameters are also obtained. It is finally concluded that TLCD can effectively reduce structural pitching vibration if its parameters are properly selected.