Optimum LCVA for suppressing harmonic vibration of damped structures

Explicit design formulae of liquid column vibration absorber (LCVA) for suppressing harmonic vibration of structures with small inherent structural damping are developed in this study. The developed design formulae are also applicable to the design of a timed mass damper (TMD) and a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) for damped structures under harmonic force excitation. The optimum parameters of LCVA for suppressing harmonic vibration of undamped structures are first derived. Numerical searching of the optimum parameters of timed vibration absorber system for suppressing harmonic vibration of damped structure is conducted. Explicit formulae for these optimum parameters are then obtained by a series of curve fitting techniques. The analytical result shows that the control performance of TLCD for reducing harmonic vibration of undamped structure is always better than that of non-uniform LCVA for same mass and length ratios. As for the effects of structural damping on the optimum parameters, it is found that the optimum timing ratio decreases and the optimum damping ratio increases as the structural damping is increased. Furthermore, the optimum head loss coefficient is inversely proportional to the amplitude of excitation force and increases as the structural damping is increased. Numerical verification of the developed explicit design expressions is also conducted and the developed expressions are demonstrated to be reasonably accurate for design purposes.