Control of wind-excited towers by active tuned liquid column damper

An active control system involving a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) is d eveloped for the: vibration control of a single-degree-of-freedom tower sub jected to wind excitation. This new control system will be referred to as t he active tuned liquid column damper (ATLCD) system. It is found that the w ind-induced response of the tower can be reduced substantially by the ATLCD system. The most efficient type of sensor is found to be the acceleration sensor when compared with displacement- and velocity-type sensors. To asses s the effectiveness of such a control system, a comparison study is made be tween the ATLCD and the active-passive tuned mass damper (APTMD). In seekin g the optimal control parameters for both systems, the norm of the root-mea n square of the system output under actual wind excitation, //H//(rms), is adopted as the objective function instead of the commonly used //H//(2) (i. e., the norm of the system output under a unit white noise). The results sh ow that the proposed ATLCD system is a good alternative to the APTMD system . Considering the potential advantages of the liquid column damper, the ATL CD system may be a better choice for vibration control of wind-induced towe rs. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.