Response control performance of a hybrid mass damper applied to a tall building

A hybrid mass damper system with convertible active and passive modes using a hydraulic actuator (hereinafter referred to as APMD) has been installed to an actual slender tall building with an aspect ratio of eight constructe d in Chiba prefecture. In this paper, simulation analysis, force vibration tests and observation of behaviours against moderate wind or some earthquak e excitations were carried out to investigate the response control performa nce of the mass damper system. From the analysis, it was confirmed that on the active mode due to the vibration tests, the damping factors in the 1st mode were about 8-11 per cent, the satisfactory vibration control effect wa s obtained, and no spillover in the second mode occurred. The response valu es of the peak and the R.M.S. accelerations under the active mode due to th e actual wind excitations were reduced to 1/4.5-1/2.0 (average 1/3) in comp arison with the responses in non-controlled system. Through the results obt ained by these investigations, it was concluded that the mass damper system was quite effective for the response control of the slender tall building to wind loads or earthquakes. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.