Seismic response control of bridges with nonlinear tuned vibration absorbers

The paper investigates seismic response control of bridges with nonlinear tuned vibration absorbers (n-TVAs). A three-span continuous bridge is used as case study. The n-TVAs are designed to act in both longitudinal and transverse directions of the bridge. The n-TVAs are modelled as inelastic springs with bilinear hysteretic behavior. A simple and effective method to design the parameters of the n-TVAs for controlling structural displacement is presented. The performance of the proposed n-TVAs is compared with the optimum linear TVAs (o-TVAs) and elasto-plastic bilinear TVAs (bn-TVAs). The results show that the n-TVAs are at least as effective as o-TVAs in controlling structural response. Because the n-TVAs do not require additional dashpots like the oTVAs, they provide a more economical solution. It is observed that although effective in controlling structural response, their stroke is of the same order as that of o-TVAs. Addition of a viscous dashpot to the device is found to reduce their stroke, although accompanied by an inherent detrimental effect on the structural control performance.

Automated summary

The study investigates the seismic response control of bridges using nonlinear tuned vibration absorbers (n-TVAs) by comparing them with optimum linear TVAs (o-TVAs) and elasto-plastic bilinear TVAs (bn-TVAs). Results show that n-TVAs are as effective as o-TVAs in controlling structural response, providing a more economical solution without the need for additional dashpots, although their stroke is comparable to that of o-TVAs.