Dynamics of Structures:

Theory and Analysis

1. Free vibrations
2. Forced vibrations
3. Transient response
4. Damping mechanisms
5. Modal analysis I: Basic idea and matrix formulation
6. Modal analysis II: Implementation and system reduction
7. Damping and tuned mass dampers
8. Time integration by Newmark methods
9. Structural response to earthquakes
10. Vibration of cables, bars, etc.
11. Vibration of beams
12. Finite element formulation for bars, beams etc.
13. Course summary
Lecture 7: Damping and tuned mass dampers
Two recent examples - movie clips
Principle of the tuned mass damper
Frequency equations
Frequency analysis
Optimal frequency tuning
Structural amplification factor
Optimal damper tuning
Modal damping ratio
Principle of the tuned mass damper
Lightly damped structures may develop large amplitude vibrations for loads
acting near the resonance frequency. They may be reduced by attaching a
secondary mass through a suitably selected spring and damper. The tuning
of the spring and mass to produce optimal reduction is an important feature,
and the device is therefore called a tuned mass absorber or damper.
Figure 7.1: Tuned mass damper, a) Series system, b) Simple structure.
The the tuned mass damper is described by the parameters
mass = m , stiness = k , damping = c
These parameters must be chosen to
i) involve sucient mass to generate the desired damping,
ii) produce a suitable amplication by resonance,
iii) extract the maximal energy by suitable tuning of damping.
Figure 7.2: Tuned mass damper (4 of 900 kg), Schwedtler Strasse, Berlin, 1999.
GERB Schwingungsisolierungen
(www.gerb.com/de/bibliothek/projektbeispiele)
Steel Chimney, Height 90 m, Rayong, Thailand.
Steel ring pendulum, frequency 0.8 Hz, and VISCO dampers, installed 2001.
GERB Schwingungsisolierungen GmbH (www.gerb.de)
Frequency equations
Figure 7.3: Tuned mass damper with mass m, stiness k, and damping c.
Equations of motion from energy balance,
d
dt
_
E
kin
+E
pot
_
= D (7.1)
with the energy terms,
E
kin
=
1
2
m
0
x
2
0
+
1
2
m( x
0
+ x
d
)
2
E
pot
=
1
2
k
0
x
2
0
+
1
2
k x
2
d
D = c x
2
d
(7.2)
Note the use of the relative motion of the damper x
d
.
The equations of motion follow from the energy balance equation,
m
0
x
0
+ m( x
0
+ x
d
) + k
0
x
0
= F(t)
m( x
0
+ x
d
) + c x
d
+ k x
d
= 0
(7.3)
The primary mass m
0
and stiness k
0
are assumed known. The task is to
select the parameters m, k and c of the secondary system to provide optimal
vibration reduction.
The load and response are assumed harmonic with angular frequency ,
x(t) = x e
it
, F(t) = F e
it
(7.4)
Substitution into the equations of motion gives
_
k
0

2
(m
0
+ m)

x
0

2
mx
d
= F

2
mx
0
+
_
k + i c
2
m

x
d
= 0
(7.5)
These equations are now solved for the amplication factor x
0
k
0
/F for the
structural motion and x
d
k
0
/F for the relative motion.
Solution of the equations gives
x
0
F
=
k
2
m+ i c
_
k
0

2
(m
0
+ m)
_
k
2
m+i c

(
2
m)
2
x
d
F
=

2
m
_
k
0

2
(m
0
+ m)
_
k
2
m+i c

(
2
m)
2
(7.6)
The following parameters are introduced,

2
0
=
k
0
m
0
=
m
m
0

2
d
=
k
m

d
=
c
2

k m
(7.7)
The mass ratio is selected, and the secondary system is then characterized
by the frequency ratio
a
/
0
and the damping ratio
d
.
This gives the amplication factors as
x
0
F/k
0
=

2
0
_

2
d

2
+ 2i
d

4
[
2
0
+ (1 +)
2
d
]
2
+
2
0

2
d
+ 2i
d

2
0
(1+)
2

(7.8)
and
x
d
F/k
0
=

2
0

2

4
[
2
0
+ (1 +)
2
d
]
2
+
2
0

2
d
+ 2i
d

2
0
(1+)
2

(7.9)
Optimal damper characteristics can now be identied from a frequency anal-
ysis of the two amplication factors.
Frequency analysis
If damping is too low undesirable dynamic amplication will occur near the
two undamped resonance frequencies because the damper does not absorb
enough energy. On the other hand if damping is too high the damper restricts
the relative motion, and thereby creates the eect of a single mass m
0
+ m
oscillating with frequency

=
_
k
0
m
0
+m
=

0

1 +
(7.10)
0.6 0.8 1 1.2
0
5
10
15
A
B
/
0
x
0

/

x
s
t
a
t
i
c
Figure 7.4: Primary response x
0
for = 0.05,
d
=
0
and : 0, 0.1, 0.3,
.
It is a remarkable fact that there are two frequencies around the natural
frequency
0
for which the magnitude of the response is independent of the
damping parameter c. They are used to determine the tuning frequency
d
.
Optimal frequency tuning
The points A and B, that are independent of damping, are found by studying
the structure of the response formula.
x
0
F/k
0
=
A + 2i
d
B
C + 2i
d
D

x
0
F/k
0

2
=
A
2
+ (2
d
)
2
B
2
C
2
+ (2
d
)
2
D
2
(7.11)
For the magnitude to be independent of the following ratios must be equal,
A
2
C
2
=
B
2
D
2

A
C
=
B
D
(7.12)
corresponding to the equation
AD = BC (7.13)
Substitution of A, B, C and D gives after cancelling the common factor
/
d
,
_
1
_

0
_
2
__
1
_

d
_
2
_

0
_
2
=
_
1
_

d
_
2
__
1(1+)
_

0
_
2
_
(7.14)
Use of the plus sign leads to the root = 0. This is the static solution where
there is no motion, and therefore no damping force.
Use of the minus sign leads to
_
1
_

d
_
2
__
2(2 +)
_

0
_
2
_
=
_

0
_
2
(7.15)
This corresponds to the following quadratic equation in
2
,
(2 +)
_

0
_
2
_

d
_
2
2
__

d
_
2
+(1 +)
_

0
_
2
_
+ 2 = 0 (7.16)
The roots of this quadratic equation are denoted
2
A
and
2
B
.
The optimal damping parameters are determined by specifying equal magni-
tude of the response at the points A and B. At these points the response
magnitude is independent of , and the relevant response can therefore be
determined for , where
x
0
F/k
0
=
1
1 (1+)
_

0
_
2
(7.17)
This response is that of the combined mass m
0
+ m moving as a unit. At
the frequency
A
the response is in phase with the load, while at
B
it is in
opposite phase. Thus, equal response magnitude at
A
and
B
corresponds to
1
1 (1+)
_

0
_
2
=
1
1 (1+)
_

0
_
2
(7.18)
Multiplication with the denominators gives the equation
_

0
_
2
+
_

0
_
2
=
2
1 +
(7.19)
This is the condition that the points A and B have the same dynamic am-
plication.
In order for the frequencies
A
and
B
to be the particular frequencies,
at which the response amplitude is independent of they must satisfy the
quadratic equation (7.12). The roots are not needed explicitly, but only in
the form of their sum. The sum of the roots of a quadratic equation is equal
to minus the coecient of the linear term, divided by the coecient of the
quadratic term. In this case
_

0
_
2
+
_

0
_
2
=
2
2 +
_
1 + (1 +)
_

0
_
2
_
(7.20)
The optimal mass ratio is now determined by elimination of the sum of
squares of the frequencies
A
and
B
,
1 + (1 +)
_

0
_
2
=
2 +
1 +
(7.21)
whereby

0
=
1
1 +
(7.22)
Thus, it is seen that optimal frequency tuning of the secondary system cor-
responds to
d
<
0
.
Structural amplication factor
The dynamic amplication at the frequencies
A
and
B
is determined by
considering the quadratic equation for the special tuning
d
/
0
= 1/(1 +).
(2 +)(1 + )
2
_

0
_
4
2(1 +)(2 +)
_

0
_
2
+ 2 = 0 (7.23)
The roots of this equation are
(1 +)
_

A,B

0
_
2
= 1
_

2 +
(7.24)
Substitution of these frequencies back into the dynamic amplication for
innite damping gives
x
0
F/k
0
=
1
1 (1+)
_

A,B

0
_
2
=
_
2 +

(7.25)
As the dynamic amplication at these two frequencies is independent of
damping the general result is

x
0
F/k
0

A,B
=
_
2 +

(7.26)
In practice the mass of the secondary structure is most often considerably less
than that of the primary structure, and thus the mass ratio is considerably
less than one. It is seen that this limits the reduction of dynamic amplication
that can be attained at the frequencies
A
and
B
.
Optimal damper tuning
It can be seen that the amplication factor x
d
k
0
/F of the relative motion has
a value independent of damping for =

. For optimal frequency tuning

is the geometric mean of

0
and
d
,

=

0

1 +
=

0
(7.27)
At the frequency

the structural amplication factor is

x
0
F/k
0
=
2i
d

1+

x
0
F/k
0

=

2
+ (2
d
)
2
(1+)

2
(7.28)
By equating the dynamic amplication at

to that at
A
and
B
the
damping ratio is determined to

2
opt
=
1
2

1 +
(7.29)
This is larger than the classic value of Brock (1946), given by Den Hartog
(1956),

2
classic
=
3
8

1 +
(7.30)
The damping value
opt
is optimal, because it
i) gives equal damping at the three points
A
,
B
, and

,
ii) gives a at maximum of the amplication of the relative motion x
d
.
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
PSfrag replacements
/
0
x
0
/
x
s
t
a
t
i
c
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3
0
5
10
15
20
PSfrag replacements
/
0
x
d
/
x
s
t
a
t
i
c
Figure 7.5: Amplitude of relative damper motion for = 0.05. a) structure motion x
d
,
b) relative damper motion x
d
. Damping parameter: - -
classic
,
opt
, - -

.
The amplication of the relative damper motion at optimal damping are

x
d
F/k
0

=
1 +

(7.31)
For mass ratio 0.1 the amplication factors are x
0
k
0
/F
_
2/ and
x
d
k
0
/F 1/, and thus the relative motion x
d
is much larger than the
structural motion x
0
.
Modal Damping Ratio
In many cases, e.g. for loads by people, there is considerable uncertainty
about the specic properties of the load. It may then be desirable to base
the design on the resulting damping ratio of the structural vibrations. The
damping ratio follows from the imginary part of the complex free vibration
frequency , determined from the characteristic equation the denominator
of (7.8),

4
[
2
0
+ (1 +)
2
d
]
2
+
2
0

2
d
+ 2i
d

2
0
(1+)
2

= 0 (7.32)
Complex Frequencies
0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
PSfrag replacements
Re[ /
0
]
I
m
[

0
]

0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2

0
0.1
0.2
0.3
PSfrag replacements
Re[ /
0
]
I
m
[

0
]

Figure 7.6: Modal frequency locus for = 0.05. a)

d
/
0
= 0.94 and b)
d
/
0
= 0.98.
At what frequency ratio
d
/
0
do the two branches meet?
The frequency bifurcation point
0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
PSfrag replacements
Re[ /
0
]
I
m
[

0
]

1

2

Figure 7.7: Locus of modal frequencies, = 0.05 and

d
/
0
= (1 + )
1
.
A frequency bifurcation point occurs for

d
=
2

/
0
=

0
1 +
The classic damper frequency tuning gives a complex frequency bifurcation!
The magnitude of the bifurcation frequency |

| is
|

| =

0
_
1 +
=

and it is reached for the damping ratio

=

1 +

i.e.

2
opt
. If damping is increased beyond

, the decreasing branch

corresponds to smaller damping.
Resulting modal damping
For damping ratio
d
below the bifurcation value

:
- the two modes involving coupled motion of structure and damper have
identical damping ratio ,
- the damping ratio of the coupled motion is closely approximated by
half the damper ratio
d
,

1
2

d
Summary
A tuned mass damper acts by creating an amplied relative motion by
resonance. This, requires careful frequency tuning. A damper is applied
to the relative motion, and the amount of damping must be adjusted
to be strong enough to dissipate sucient energy, and weak enough to
permit sucient motion.
Optimal frequency tuning can be obtained from a frequency analysis
of the dynamic amplication of the structural motion. The optimal
damper frequency tuning is
d
=
0
/(1 +), where is the mass ratio
associated with the damper.
Optimal damping can be dened either as the damping that leads to a
at maximum of the structural amplication, or a at maximum of the
relative motion. Both optimality criteria are satised by
2
d
=
1
2
/(1+).
This value is about 15 % higher than the classic value
classic
proposed
by Brock and Den Hartog.
Optimal frequency tuning leads to identical damping ratio for the two
coupled modes of vibration involving structure and damper. This damp-
ing ratio is approximately equal to half the damper value, i.e.
1
2

d
.
For systems with distributed mass, like e.g. bridges and chimneys, tuned
mass dampers can be applied to the individual modes. An approximate
analysis can be carried out using the modal mass and stiness of the
structure.