Experimental Study on Vibration Control of a Submerged Pipeline Model by Eddy Current Tuned Mass Damper

Undesirable vibrations occurring in undersea pipeline structures due to ocean currents may shorten the lifecycle of pipeline structures and even lead to their failure. Therefore, it is desirable to find a feasible and effective device to suppress the subsea vibration. Eddy current tuned mass damper (ECTMD), which employs the damping force generated by the relative movement of a non-magnetic conductive metal (such as copper or aluminum) through a magnetic field, is demonstrated to be an efficient way in structural vibration control. However, the feasibility and effectiveness of ECTMD in a seawater environment has not been reported on before. In this paper, an experiment is conducted to validate the feasibility of an eddy current damper in a seawater environment. A submerged pipeline is used as the controlled structure to experimentally study the effectiveness of ECTMD. The dynamic properties of the submerged pipeline are obtained from dynamic tests and the finite element method (FEM). The optimum design of TMD with a linear spring-damper element for a damped primary structure is carried out through numerical optimization procedures and is used to determine the optimal frequency tuning ratio and damping ratio of ECTMD. In addition, the performance of ECTMD to control the submerged pipeline model is respectively studied in free vibration case and forced vibration case. The results show that the damping provided by eddy current in a seawater environment is only slightly varied compared to that in an air environment. With the optimal ECTMD control, vibration response of the submerged pipeline is significantly decreased.