Mitigating Structural Vibrations due to Earthquake with Application of Slope Bottom Tuned Liquid Dampers

Abstract

Earthquakes are one of man’s most feared natural phenomena, producing almost instantaneous destruction of buildings and other constructed facilities. In order to mitigate damage of structures and save the life, various measures are adopted and use of structural control devices is one of them . Structural control devices can enhance the integrity of structures without increasing the dimensions of structural members. In this study, an attempt has been made to systematically investigate the performance of structural control device namely, tuned liquid damper (TLD) for controlling the dynamic response of reinforced concrete (RC) framed structure. Dynamic analysis of a 10 story RC framed structure with both flat and slope (W or central slope) bottom rectangular TLDs, subjected to  five earthquake time histories have been performed. Key results have been presented in the form of tuning ratio, liquid mass reduction and displacement response reduction due to slope at bottom TLD. For the case of TLDs with central slope, the analyses have been performed for slope angle ranging from 5-14º. Based on the study, it has been observed that, tuning ratio of TLD decreases with increase of central slope at the bottom of TLD, the variation of liquid mass reduction with slope angle has been observed to be linear and reduction in displacement  of structure increases with increase in central slope angle.