An efficient liquid sloshing damper for vibration control

The next generation of tall structures are being designed to be lighter and more flxible, making them susceptible to wind, ocean waves and earthquake type of excitations. One approach to vibration control of such systems is t hrough energy dissipation using a liquid sloshing damper. Such dampers are already in use for vibration control of tall structures in Japan and Austra lia. The present parametric study focuses on enhancing the energy dissipati on efficiency of a rectangular liquid damper through introduction of a two- dimensional obstacle. A parametric free-vibration study, aimed at optimum s ize and location of the obstacle, is described first. Results suggest a sig nificant increase in the energy dissipation, up to 60%, in the presence of the obstacle. An extensive wind tunnel test-program was undertaken which su bstantiated the effectiveness of the improved damper in suppressing both vo rtex resonance and galloping types of instabilities. Ability of the damper to control structural oscillations with a smaller amount liquid is quite at tractive for real-life applications. (C) 1998 Academic Press.