Engineering Structures, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.

193-204, 1998
© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd
All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
PIh S0141-0296(97)00078-3 0141-0296/98 $19.00 + 0.00
ELSEVIER

Parametric study and simplified

design of tuned mass dampers
Rahul Rana and T. T. Soong
Civil Engineering Department, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA

This paper summarizes the results of a parametric study performed

to enhance the understanding of some important characteristics of
tuned mass dampers (TMD). The effect of detuning on some of the
TMD parameters on the performance is studied using steady-state
harmonic excitation analysis and time-history analysis. The El Cen-
tro and Mexico excitations are used for time-history analysis. The
effects of tuning criteria and significance of numerical tuning are
also studied. The correspondence between the design of a TMD
for a SDOF structure and a certain mode of a MDOF structure is
drawn to simplify TMD design to control a single mode of a multi-
modal structure. An example is given to illustrate the design pro-
cedure. Investigations are made regarding controlling multiple
structural modes using multi-tuned mass dampers (MTMD).
© 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords: tuned mass dampers, multi-tuned mass dampers, para-

metric study, design

1. Introduction cations, the understanding of TMD behavior and its design

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are amongst the oldest struc-
tural vibration control devices in existence. The concept of
vibration control using a mass damper dates back to the
year 1909, when Frahm invented a vibration control device
called a dynamic vibration absorber. While TMDs are
among the oldest structural vibration control devices, there
has been a resurgence of interest in their study in recent
years. A number of newer tall buildings, particularly in
Japan, are now equipped with various versions of such a
system for vibration mitigation under wind and moderate
earthquakes. A summary of these recent applications can
be found in Soong et al. ~ Since a passive TMD (Figure 1)
is the fundamental mechanism, present in all such appli-
Absorber mass
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
Figure 1 A schematic representation of damped vibration
absorber suggested by Den Hartog (1928)
become important problems.
The vibration control device invented by Frahm did not
have any inherent damping. It was effective only when
absorber's natural frequency was very close to the exci-
tation frequency and it suffered a sharp deterioration in its
performance if the excitation frequency deviated away from
absorber's natural frequency. In addition, if the excitation
frequency approached any of the two natural frequencies
of the structure-absorber system, a very large response
could occur at resonance. Therefore, it was effective only
for the case where the frequency of the exictation was
known so that the absorber could be designed with a natural
frequency equal to the excitation frequency. This short-
coming was later eliminated when Ormondroyd and Den
Hartog 2 showed that, if a certain amount of damping is
introduced in Frahm's absorber, performance deterioration
under changing excitation frequency will not be very sharp
and response at resonance can also be significantly reduced.
Den Hartog also derived closed form expressions for
optimum damper parameters. He assumed no damping to
be present in the main mass to facilitate the derivations.
Later, damping in the main mass was included in the analy-
sis by Bishop and Welbourn. 3 While Den Hartog con-
sidered absorbers with viscous damping only, Showdown 4
extended it to include different types of absorber damping.
Falcon et al. 5 devised a procedure for optimizing an
absorber incorporating a restricted amount of damping
applied to a damped main system. Ioi and Ikeda 6 developed

193
194 Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and 7-. 7-. Soong

correction factors for the absorber parameters as functions ady-state response of the main mass subjected to a har-
of the main mass damping assuming light main mass damp- monic main mass excitation. These expressions for
ing. Warburton and Ayorinde 7 tabulated numerically calculating optimum damper parameters are given as:
searched optimum values of absorber parameters for certain
values of absorber to main mass ratio and main mass damp- 1
ing ratio. Thompson ~ presented a frequency locus method f'"' = i+/x (3)
to obtain optimum damper parameters. Warburton 9 derived
closed form expressions for optimum absorber parameters
for undamped single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) system ~'d"e' = 8(i+/z) (4)
for harmonic and white noise random excitations. Vickery
et al. m considered a damped SDOF structure-damper sys- For the case when the structure is subjected to a harmonic
tem with damper to main mass ratio of 5%. They developed base excitation, the corresponding expressions can be easily
graphs to obtain absorber response and added effective found to be:
damping due to absorber. Tsai and Lin l~ numerically
developed plots to obtain optimum damper parameters for
harmonic excitations. They also presented empirical
' (,/y) (5)
expressions which fit the obtained plots.
The objective of this paper is to present a simplified pro- (6)
cedure for TMD design and enhance the understanding of
TMD behavior with the help of a parametric study. In
addition, a study is performed to investigate the possibility Using the values of G.p, and f,pt, optimum values of
of controlling multiple structural modes using multi-tuned damping c and stiffness k of the damper can be calcu-
mass dampers. lated as

w.,,p,_ \/kopt/m
2. Equations of motion and classical solution f , pt : fl -- [~
Referring to Figure 1, the equations of motion of a SDOF
structure-TMD mechanism are given as: which gives

M X ( t ) + KX(t) - [c{Sc(t)-X(t)} + k{x(t)-X(t)}] = P(t) kopt =,~p, [)~2m (7)

(1)
Similarly
mY(t) + c{x(t)-J((t)} + k ( x ( t ) - X ( t ) } = p(t) (2)
Y
Copt Copl

where M main mass bd°pt Cc 2e%m

m absorber mass
K main spring stiffness which gives
k absorber spring stiffness
C absorber damping Copt = 2~d,,ptfoptDm (8)
P(t) force acting on main mass. In case of base exci-
tation with acceleration £g(t), P(t) = -MY~(t). 3. Inherent damping in main mass: numerical
p(t) force acting on damper mass. It is given as: optimization
In Den Hartog's derivation of optimal damper parameters,
P(t) for base excitation it is assumed that the main mass is undamped. In the pres-
p(t) = ence of damping in the main mass, no closed-form
for main mass excitation expressions can be derived for the optimum damper para-
meters. However, they may be obtained by numerical trials
with the aim of achieving a system with smallest possible
To facilitate further discussions, additional notations are
value of its higher response peak. Figure 2 demonstrates
introduced here as follows:
8 8

"~ p-O.02 /'~! ~-0.02

/~ damper mass to main mass ratio, /~ = m / M . ~-2~'0
oJ frequency of a harmonic excitation. f 1:
[l natural frequency of main mass, ~ = ~/K/M.
i ~-2%
~o, natural frequency of damper mass, w, = ~/k/m.
g, ratio of excitation frequency to main mass natural / ! /
//' '~ /r' ",
frequency, g~ = ¢o/~. /
for MDOF structures, g, = w/l~,, where [~l is the / \
/ \ 2 / "
first modal frequency of the structure. .... "Optlmlzalion method "" Optimizationmethod -
Numgrk~: f . , 0 . 9 7 0 ~ E.. m~ -- Numedc~d: ¢.09~8479, ~ .000~T81
f frequency ratio, f = WalO. ~-- C I o N d form: f.O.geO~9~, -o~=' . . . _ _ Cloelsd 4OTm:f.0 g7~478 ~.a =0.08a~49

~'d damping ratio of TMD. °o'.s ?.o ~.s % ,'.0 1~

damping ratio of main mass. Frequen~'yratio gl Frequency ratio gl
Main mass excitation Base excitation
Den Hartog ~2 developed closed form expressions of opti- Figure2 Numerical optimization, necessary in presence of
mum damper parameters f and G which minimize the ste- inherent damping
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong 195

Main mass damping t;-O.O0

the necessity of numerical optimization of damper para-
v,-o.oz ~.o.o6
meters when damping is present in the main mass. In this 18 . . . . I . . . . ,. . . . . i . . . .

case, the equation of motion of the main mass, equation 16

(1), is modified by adding the term C~((t) to the left-hand
side. Under a harmonic excitation Psintot, steady-state
response of the main mass and damper mass can be
|I 10
8 =f~mtion detunh~gof 1;d
expressed in a dimensionless form as: ......... 0.20
4 0.00 (optimum)
" 2
~ - - +0.20
. . . . i . . . .
0

X Main mass damping ~,-0.06

(9) ~-0.02 ~0.06
S,, Z
1618 . . . . , .... I._'_ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 1
X/1 + 4 ( ~ ) 2 ( 1 + A / . z ) 2 | 12
(10) 10
X~t Z 8

Z = [ ~ _ 14 f2
gl2 gZ(l+/-t) - 4~'~fg2
__ + ]j2 | 4
-0
.06
. .
0.00
.
0,05
. I , , , ,
-0.06
i i
,
i i
0.00
I . . . .
0.05
Fraction cletuning of f Fraction detuning of f
+ 2 +2 3 ( l + / x ) _ z~'dg,
T _ 2,~g, (ll)
Figure3 E f f e c t o f d e t u n i n g : h a r m o n i c main mass excitation

where
X~t displacement of main mass under a static load of
magnitude P, Xst = P/K and
A = I 1_ for base excitation
L0 for main mass excitation
Quantities X/X~, and x/Xs, are also termed as main mass
response ratio and damper mass response ratio, respect-
ively.
In a numerical approach, several combinations of damper
parameters ffa and f are investigated in a systematic manner
until the best combination is reached. Since real structures
have only a small amount of inherent damping, available
closed form expressions for zero inherent damping give
good starting values in the numerical search. A mimimax
approach was used by Randall et a l . j3 to develop design
graphs for obtaining optimum damper parameters for SDOF
structure under main mass excitation. Given the main struc-
ture's damping ratio ff and damper to structure mass ratio
'
optimum damper parameters ffdo p t andfopt can be directly
.
4.1. Effect of detuning
If the TMD parameters shift away from their respective
optimum values, the response control is expected to
degrade. A steady-state harmonic analysis, with varying
excitation frequencies, is performed to study the effect of
detuning. Obviously, the structure's steady-state response
varies with changing excitation frequency and Figures 3
and 4 show the obtained peak structural response ratio with
detuning in damper parameters. These figures show the
effect of detuning of damper parameters optimized for har-
monic main mass excitation and base excitation, respect-
ively. The following can be observed from these plots:
(1) The detuning effect of parameter f is more pronounced
than that of the parameter ¢d-
(2) With increasing damping ¢ of the main mass, the effect
of detuning becomes less severe.
(3) With increasing mass ratio/x also, the effect of detun-
ing becomes less severe.

obtained from these design graphs. Main mass damping~-O.O0

Thus, the presence of inherent damping makes numerical p.o.o2 ~-0,06
tuning necessary. Realizing the necessity of numerical tun- 18
16
ing and the fact that damper's optimum parameters are dif-
ferent for main mass excitation and base excitation, practi- 12
cal design tables TM have been developed to facilitate the 10
8 •Fraction deluning of ~'d
design of a TMD in the presence of inherent structural ......... 0.20
damping. An example of such design tables is given in ~ 4 0.00 (optimum)
Table 2 and its use is illustrated in an example presented & 2 ---- +0.20
, , , , I , i i i . . . . i , h , ,
later. 0

Main mass damping ~-0.06

~,o.o2 ~o.o6
4. Parametric study 18 . . . . i . . . . I . . . . i . . . .

16
It is well known that a TMD can be designed to control a 14
single structural mode only. Given the properties of the
mode which needs to be controlled, the design problem is !
@
12
10
essentially the same as designing a TMD for a SDOF struc-
ture. Parametric studies were performed on a SDOF 4

structure-TMD system to enhance the understanding of

TMD behavior. The numerical optimization using minimax
O.
2
0
-0.05
. . . . i
0.~
: , , ,
0.~ -0.05
F:. O.CO
..... / t O.C~

Fraction detuning of f Fraction detuning of f

approach, as described in a previous section, was used for
obtaining optimum TMD parameters. Figure 4 E f f e c t o f d e t u n i n g : h a r m o n i c base excitation
196 Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana a n d T. T. S o o n g
0.4 i I i 0,2 Main mass damping ~-0.00
1~.0.02
0.2 0.1 7 . . . . . . *

Praction detuning of l;d.://

.....-'" ~
0.0 0.0 .......
...r'

.:" .f
-0.2 -0.1
.e 3
-0.4 0 , /
10
I
20
i
30
,
40
-0,2 I , i , I/
==-2 UNCONTROLLB~ 4.e2 am
Time (s) Time (s)
0.015 ~ 0.015 Main mass damping ~-0.06
~=0.02 ~-0.0~
7
c 0.010 0.010

8 0.005 0.005 4
3
09
~2 u,co~r~a.~ ~.~ ~ UNCONTROU.ED:1.79 am
0.000 0.0 10.O 20.0 30.0
0.000 0.0 20
~!o 4 0 80
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz) 1 . . . . . . . .
-0.7 0.00 0.75 -0.75 0.00 0,75
Fraction d e t u n i n g of f Fraction detuning of t
(a) El C,entro excitation (b) Mexico Excitation
Figure 7 Effect of detuning on RMS response: El Centro earth-
Figure 5 El Centro and Mexico excitations quake

The effects of detuning in TMD parameters are also stud- Main massdamplng~=0.00
ied by performing a time-history analysis on a SDOF struc- 1,-0.02 ~-0,06
ture of mass m=10 kg and stiffness K=1000 N/m, resulting 6
Fraction detunlng o f 1~,4 ,.,.-"
in natural frequency ~=1.592 Hz. The El Centro and Mex-
ico earthquake time-histories, which significantly differ in ....... o::,o"
frequency contents (Figure 5), are used as excitations. Peak '. -- - + o.~ ...//..~
g4
and root-mean-square (RMS) displacements are plotted
with increasing detuning of damper parameters. The results
are shown in Figures 6-9. The following observations can O.
' UNCONT1ROLLIEDRESPON.gE:0.(10¢¢n' UNCONTROLLED:¢6 om
be made:
Main mass'damping~ ; = 0 . 0 6
v,-o.oa v=o.o~
(1) The response control effect of TMD is not always 6 . . .
found to be significant for the particular SDOF struc-
ture and earthquakes considered, particularly at higher
values of main mass damping. Also, it is seen that the
values of optimum damper parameters f, pt and ~d,,p,,
obtained for steady-state harmonic base excitation, ~3 u.com'~ou.~,
z4=~. UNCOh'TROL.LED: 2-43 om

Main mass damping ~-0.00

"~,,.~......~..~
-0.175 . . . . i . . . .
1~0.02 ~,-o.o~ 0.00 0.75 -0.75 0.00 0,75
11 Fractiondetuningoff Fraction detuning of f
....... fl' ,,".,,..'*'
Figure 8 Effect of detuning on peak response: Mexico earth-
quake

Fraction detunlng o f 1; (~
8 ......... 0.40 hold reasonably well for the earthquake excitations
o.oo(optimum)
---- +0.40 considered. This fact essentially states the practicality
O.
IJNCOi~ROU.E~. I0.1S ~ of the use of steady-state harmonic excitation in
. . , , , ,
TMD design.
Main mass damping ~=0.06 (2) The effect of detuning is not as significant as that seen
~0.02 v...o.o~ in the steady-state harmonic analysis. Qualitatively, the
11 . . . . .
effect of detuning on RMS response corresponds well
to what is predicted by the steady-state harmonic
a' analysis. The peak response results of the time-history
show less correspondence to the steady-state analysis
8 UNCONTROt.U~. 7JUl om results.
a,. " " " * ' ~ . . ~ . : ........

6
-0.75
. . . . .
o.~
: " "
0.75 -0.75 0.00 0,75 4.2. Significance of tuning criteria
Fractiondetuningof f Fractiondetuningof f The optimum damper parameters ~d and f,,n, are different
Figure 6 Effect of detuning on peak response: El Centro earth- depending on whether the excitation is acting at the base
quake or at the main mass. The optimum damper parameters are
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. 7-. Soong 197

Main mass damping~,-0.00

p,,-O.~
(3) The parameter ~'do-, follows a similar pattern as fop,,
1.0 { " - ; , I . . . / / though with less c[~ity.
.,0.9
'~ . . . . . . o~ ..'~ One refers to the results of the previous section, since the
~ ~(~.."/)
I 0.8

0.7
' :(
:/7/ effect of detuning of damper parameters becomes less sev-
ere with increasing /x and if, at higher values o f / x and if,
u) increasing differences between optimum parameters based
=~
m 0.6 "...... on the two criteria will be compensated by decreasing
UNOONTP~.LI~2.04om
0.5 detuning effects.
Main mass damping ~-0.06
w-o.o2 ~-o.06 4.3. Significance of numerical tuning
1.0 . . . . .

The presence of inherent damping, ~', makes the closed

~0.9 form expressions for calculating optimum damper para-
Z o.e
~ 0 J ~ uNco NT~DLL~3: 0.M ¢~ meters inapplicable (Figure2). The plots are shown in
Figure 11 to investigate how much is the difference
~o.7 between optimum parameters obtained by numerical search
0.6 and those by closed form expressions. This figure illus-
trates that
0.5 .... ' .... , , , , , . . . .

-0.75 0.00 0,75 -0.75 O,OO 0.75

Fraction detuning of f Fraction detuning of f
(1) As the inherent damping increases, the difference
Figure 9 Effect of detuning on RMS response: Mexico earth- between the 'true' f~p, (by numerical search) and
quake 'approximate' fop, (by close form expressions)
increases, which is an obvious result since close form
expressions are obtained assuming zero inherent damp-
calculated for the two criteria for varying structural para- ing. This difference also increases with increasing mass
meters and are plotted in Figure 10. One can make the fol- ratio /z.
lowing observations: (2) A similar result is obtained for parameter ffdop,,
although a smaller difference is observed between the
( 1 ) As inherent damping ff in the main mass increases, the 'true' and 'approximate' values.
difference between the values of parameter fop,
obtained by the two criteria also increase. Based on detuning characteristics discussed previously,
(2) The same as above is also observed for increasing mass it can be argued that since the effect of detuning on
ratio /z. response is less severe at higher values of ~ and /x, and
since at small values of ~ and /z the difference between
Effect on optimum tuning ratio ~dop, and fopt, obtained numerically and by close form
1.00 i i i i expression, is not significant, numerical tuning perhaps can
be avoided all together. However, it should be noted that
0.95
Main mass excitation
1.00 • v • i , i , i • 0.20 . , . , . , . , •

p.,,2%
0.95

I~ ..... 0.15
p.-6%
0.85
-- B u o excllnUon ~ ~'0.90

0.10
0.80 , I , I , I , I , 0.85 Tuning method
0 2 4 6 8 10 -- Nun~m~ ~ T u n i n g method ~-10~
-- Cio~KSform~lln 0 -- Numeric4d
Effect on optimum damping ratio -~ CIoI4KIform
0.20 ~" ' I , I , I , L *
, t i i r _ 0.80 ' ~ ' ' ' ' ' ' ' 0.05 ,
0 2 4 6 8 10 2 4 @ 8 10

it-2%
Base excitation
1.00 , , 0.20 , . , . , . ,

it-2%
0.15
0.95

0.15
1
it-6%
,,_ 1~'0.90
0.10

0.10
• Tuning orReda ~,-10% J
- - ~ m a ~ excRatJon
0.85 r -
r'uning method v.-10~
-- -- ~ o ~ o n
-- Num~'k~d
0.0~ , I , I , I , l -- ~ C , I ~ form
0 2 4 6 8 10 0.80 0 " ' " I . , = I = 0.05 , I , I , I , t ,
= , ( ; , ,o 2 , , ,
~. ( % ) % ¢(%)

Figure 10 Effect of tuning criteria on optimum parameters Figure 11 Significance of numerical tuning
198 T u n e d m a s s d a m p e r s : R. Rana a n d 7-. T. S o o n g

a difference does exist between the two and, with the help mE(t) + c{Jc(t)-,~j(t)} + k{x(t)-Xj(t)} = Ap(t) (15)
of design aids ~4, numerically searched ~'dop' and fop, are as
easy to use as the close form expressions. where A has same meaning as in equations (9) and (10) and

5. D e s i g n i n g T M D to control a particular Pi(t) = ~ivP(t), P(t) being the load vector acting on
structural mode the structure;
y(t) generalized displacement of ith mode
Equations of motion for a SDOF undamped structure-
TMD system were written as equations ( 1 ) and (2). For an Comparing equations (14) and (15) to the equations of
N DOF proportionally damped structure-TMD system with motion for the SDOF structure-TMD system, equations ( 1)
a TMD placed at the jth floor of the structure (Figure 12), and (2), one can observe that these two pairs of equations
the equations of motion can be written as follows: differ on two accounts, namely, the presence of the term
For a general rth floor mass &u in equation (14) and the presence of term Xi(t) instead
of y(t) in both equations (14) and (15). However, if the
M~(t) + C~(t) + K~Xr(t) - ~U[c{±(t) - structure's ith mode shape vector is normalized with respect
J(,(t)} + k{x(t)-X~(t)}] = P,(t) (12) to its jth element, which corresponds to TMD location (jth
floor), ~b6 becomes unity and Xs(t) = chuy(t) = y(t), and
where equations (14) and (15) reduce to the same form as equa-
tions (1) and (2). Thus if 4)0 is unity, the expressions for
calculating the steady-state ith modal response and damper
6ri = {~ r=AJ response in a MDOF structure-TMD system will be
- r=j
exactly same as those for main mass and damper mass
responses, respectively, in a SDOF structure-TMD system.
for the damper mass
It is stated here that, simple design aids j3,i4, which are
developed for designing a TMD for a SDOF structure can
mY(t) + c{Sc(t)-,~,(t)} + k{x(t)-Xr(t)} = p(t) (13)
be directly used to design a TMD for a certain structural
mode of a MDOF structure, provided that the correspond-
where
ing modal mass is obtained using a mode shape vector,
which is normalized with respect to its element correspond-
m
p(t) = IM: Pj(t) for base (earthquake) excitation ing to the TMD location. Design procedure using the
above-described approach is simple and is illustrated by the
[0 j for super structure (wind) excitation following example.

If the TMD is to be designed for ith structural mode with

modal properties Mi, Ks and Ci, the design problem is essen-
tially similar to that of designing a TMD for a SDOF struc-
ture. Relevant equations of motion can be written as:
M/y'(t) + Cig(t) + Kiy(t) - d)u[c{(Sc(t)-Xi(t)}
+ k { x ( t ) - X j ( t ) } ] = Pi(t)
6. A design example
In this example, the design of a TMD tuned to the first
mode of a three DOF structure, described in Table 1, is
carried out under harmonic base excitation. A practical
(14)
problem of controlling a MDOF structure with a dominant
first mode under moderate earthquakes will be similar to
the discussed design problem.
Referring to Table 1, the first-mode mode-shape vector
~j of this structure is given as:

&l = [0.737 0.59! 0.328] r

It is clear that, in the first mode, the top floor will undergo
the largest steady-state deflection under a harmonic exci-
tation. Therefore, the TMD should be placed at the top floor
for best control of the first mode. Since the TMD will be
placed at the top floor, the mode-shape vector ~b~ should
be normalized with respect to its first element to calculate
the structure's first modal mass. Therefore, the normalized
&j is given as:

&l,, = [1.000 0.802 0.445]r

[ "" I NOW, the first-mode modal-mass can be calculated as:

N ~ : ".......... z:~...

M, = 6~,,M6L,, = 18.41 kg (16)

/ / / / /
If the damper mass is taken to be 2% of the entire building
Figure 12 A general N DOF structure-damper system mass, then
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong 199

Table 1 Properties of the three DOF structure considered

M(kg) =
[ 00] 10
0
0
10
[,00o_1O0Oo
K(N/m) = -1000 2000
-1000
-1000
2oooj

1.519 0.272 0.0971

['0.737 --0.591 -0.328]
C(N-s/rn) : 0.272 11343 0.176/ ~ : 01591 01328 0.737 /
0.097 0.176 1.246J L0.328 0.737 -0.591J

~1 = 0.708306 H z , ~ 2 = 1.98463 Hz, ~3 = 2.86787 Hz

~1 = 2.0%, ~'2 = 0.5%, ~'3 = 0.3%

m = 0.6 kg (17) 7. Multi-tuned mass dampers

A single TMD can only control the mode for which it is
Therefore, the damper mass to structure's first-mode modal
designed. For controlling an additional mode a separate
mass ratio is:
TMD can be used. Therefore, the concept of multi-tuned
mass dampers (MTMD), i.e. having a separate TMD for
0.6
- 0.03259 every structural mode appears to be worth investigating.
/xj - 18.41 The concept of M T M D is relatively new as compared to
that of TMD. Much of the research in this area has been
The first-mode modal damping ratio is known to be done not with the aim of controlling multiple modes, but
ff~ = 2%. Using these known values of/~t and ff~, the opti- a single mode only. Igusa and Xu ~5 and Xu and Igusa j6
mum damper parameters, fopt and ffao-,, can be found from examined a SDOF structure-MTMD system with dampers'
numerical search, or more easily /;rom the appropriate natural frequencies distributed over a range and analyzed it
design table (Table 2). One obtains for controlling structures subjected to a wide-band random
input. They found MTMD to be more effective and robust
fopt = 0.952, ~'dov,= 0.11 than a single TMD of equal mass. Yamaguchi et al. t7 and
Kareem et al. ~8 performed detailed parametric studies on
Using 1 ~ = 2 ~ (0.708) rad/s (Table 1) and equations (7) SDOF structure-MTMD systems under harmonic and ran-
and (8), the stiffness and damping coefficient of the TMD dom excitations, respectively. Like Xu and Igusa ~6, their
are found to be results show that multiple mass dampers with natural fre-
quencies distributed about the natural frequency of the
kopt = 10.77 N / m (18) structure are more effective for both robustness and
response control. In this paper, the purpose of MTMD
and design is to control multiple modes. The design method
described earlier is used to tune each damper to a parti-
Cop, = 0.559 N - s / m (19) cular mode.

Thus, given by equations (17), (18) and (19), all three 7.1. Preliminary harmonic analysis
parameters of the damper are now known. This completes An analysis is carried out using a single TMD tuned to
the design of the TMD tuned to the first mode of a three different modes in turn. Each TMD is placed at its most
DOF structure. effective location, namely, the antinode of the mode. For

Table 2 A design table of o p t i m u m d a m p e r parameters for h a r m o n i c base excitation

/~ = 3 . 0 % /~ = 3 . 5 %
~(°/o) fop, ~'~op, {X~ ~(°/o) fop, ~aoot
~))(st peak

0.0 0.963384 0.103248 8.411 0.0 0.957585 0.111648 7.830

0.5 0.961585 0.104848 7.861 0.5 0.955585 0.113448 7.349
1.0 0.959585 0.105448 7.372 1.0 0.953386 0.113048 6.925
1.5 0.957585 0.106848 6.938 1.5 0.951186 0.113848 6.544
2.0 0.955385 0.106648 6.552 2.0 0.948786 0.113048 6.204
2.5 0.953186 0.107248 6.204 2.5 0.946387 0.113448 5.893
3.0 0.950786 0.106448 5.893 3.0 0.943987 0.113848 5.614
3.5 0.948386 0.106648 5.609 3.5 0.941387 0.114248 5.355
4.0 0.945987 0.107248 5.350 4.0 0.938788 0.114448 5.121
4.5 0.943387 0.107048 5.114 4.5 0.936188 0.114848 4.907
5.0 0.940787 0.107248 4.898 5.0 0.933588 0.115848 4.708
200 Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong

Third floor response

16 8 ' I '
14
12
1~ 10
4
4
2
0
2
0 ' 1
Second floor response
16 • • I i

1 2 ~ 6
1~ 10

4 2
2
0 0

First floor response

16 ' I" '
14 i ~
12 sl
I 4
4 2
2
0 0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.25 2.75 3.25 3 4.0 4.5
Frequency ratio gl Frequency ratio gl Frequency ratio gl
Figure 13a Preliminary harmonic analysis with first mode TMD

these preliminary harmonic analyses, TMDs have been
designed with a mass ratio /x = 2%. Results are shown in
Figure 13a-c.
It is clear from these analyses that the presence of a first-
mode TMD reduces the second and third mode responses
as well. The second-mode response is moderately reduced
and the third-mode response is slightly reduced. The pres-
ence of a second-mode T M D reduces the third-mode
response significantly, but slightly increases the first-mode
response. The presence of a third-mode T M D reduces the
second-mode response moderately but slightly increases the
first-mode response. Since the second- and third-mode
TMDs slightly increase the first-mode response, one might
expect the overall response to increase in the presence of
second- and/or third-mode TMD. The above observations
are specific to the structure considered and similar analyses
may yield different results for another structure.

Third floor response

60
5O
~;40

2O
L A 1 t° t~
I
fl

~t

10
o r~ , , ' ~'--~ 0.0 , I ' " ~--">~ 0.0

Second floor response

,~80 0.5 0.5

2O
10
0 0.0 ~ ' " ~ ' '0.0
t
First floor response
60 i lo , ;, , /,° • I't '

5O

i
I
1~40
0.5 0.5
2O
,o
0 0.0 L. - , ~ , JO.O
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.25 2.75 3.25 3.5 4.0 4.5
Frequency ratio gl Frequency ratio gl Frequency ratio gl
Figure 13b preliminary harmonic analysis with second mode TMD
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong 201

Third floor response

6O
I ' i ~
1~40 4 I ~
>~ m with TM
30 -- w/oTM
20 2 ~_ IIt ~'~
10
0 0 , t ~ 0.0 / I =

Second floor response

6O 6 , • i ' ,0.3
5O
140
30
20 2
10
0 0 ~ 1 ' , 70. 0

Rrst floor response

6O , 6
50
1~40
so
2O
10
0o.5 C
1 .o 1.5 z.25 2.7s 3.25 3.5 4.o 4.~
F r e q u e n c y ratio g l F r e q u e n c y ratio gl F r e q u e n c y ratio g l

Figure 13c p r e l i m i n a r y h a r m o n i c analysis with third m o d e T M D

7.2. Preliminao' time-histo O' analysis ( 1) Under E1 Centro earthquake, the presence of the first-
Before actually installing a MTMD in a structture, it is mode TMD significantly reduces the RMS response
and moderately reduces the peak response. Second-
desirable to observe the performance of a single TMD
mode TMD results in minute and third-mode TMD
tuned to each structural mode in turn. Time-history analysis
results in moderate increase in the RMS and peak
is performed on the three DOF structure considered under
response.
El Centro and Mexico earthquakes and a summary is
(2) Under Mexico earthquake, first-mode TMD results in
presented in Table 3. Following results are obtained from
minute reduction of both RMS and peak responses.
these analyses:
Second- and third-mode TMDs result in minute to
moderate increase in the RMS and peak responses.

Table3 S t r u c t u r e - T M D system t i m e - h i s t o r y analyses results

T M D description Floor no. El Centro Mexico

T u n e d to Parameters Peak (cm) RMS (cm) Peak (cm) RMS (cm)
(location)

1st m o d e m = 0.6 kg 3rd 13.42 4.50 -22.34 5.63

(3rd f l o o r ) k = 10.77 N/m 2nd 9.98 3.54 -18.00 4.54
c = 0.56 N-s/m 1st 5.32 2.08 -10.39 2.60
TMD -40.73 14.62 71.41 18.39

2nd m o d e m = 0.6 kg 3rd 14.77 6.49 -23.80 5.72

(1st f l o o r ) k = 85.72 N / m 2nd 11.71 5.19 -19.39 4.67
c = 1.58 N-s/m 1st 6.15 2.91 -11.14 2.69
TMD -9.82 3.84 -13.38 3.21

3rd m o d e m = 0.6 kg 3rd 16.11 6.59 -24.75 5.84

(2nd f l o o r ) k = 179.29 N/m 2rid 11.03 5.25 -20.05 4.77
c = 2.28 N-s/m 1st 6.58 3.02 -11.30 2.73
TMD 11.45 5.67 -21.35 5.10

w/o TMD 3rd 15.65 6.45 -23.47 5.66

2nd 11.02 5.13 -19.07 4.61
1st 6.18 2.94 -10.92 2.64
202 Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana a n d 7-. T. Soong

The above results indicate that the performance of the
s t r u c t u r e - T M D system depends on the following:
( 1 ) The relative significance of individual structural modes
in determining the overall response. A T M D tuned to
the most dominant structural mode will be most effec-
tive. Also, as could be predicted, based on the har-
monic analysis, the structural response observed in
time-history analysis is found to be slightly deterio-
rated by the presence of a second- or third-mode TMD,
due to the deterioration in the first-mode response.
(2) The natural frequencies of the structure and the fre-
quency content of the excitation. If the major frequency
content of the excitation is away from the structure's
natural frequencies, the presence of a TMD may not
cause much response reduction. This is the reason of
less effectiveness of the first-mode TMD under the
Mexico earthquake. Since the Mexico earthquake is
characterized by a frquency content highly concen-
trated at a frequency of approximately 0 . 5 H z
(Figure 5b), while the first mode natural frequency of
the structure considered is 0.71 Hz (Table 1).
7.3. Analysis using MTMD
As found above, the presence of a second- or third-mode
T M D alone does not always result in a response reduction
of the structures considered. In this section, an analysis is
performed with more than one TMD to determine whether
a net response reduction is possible when multiple tuned
mass dampers are used simultaneously.
Assuming that 2% of the building-mass is the total avail-
able mass for all the dampers, an appropriate mass distri-
bution among the various TMDs must first be determined.
A response analysis of the structures with harmonic base
excitation of frequencies, varying over a range which
covers all three natural frequencies, was done. Peak
response ratios were found to be, in the first m o d e - - 5 0 . 0
(at the top floor), in the second m o d e - - 7 . 5 (at the first
floor) and in the third m o d e - - 2 . 5 (at the middle floor).
These responses show the relative importance of various
modes in determining the overall structural response and
T M D masses can be distributed in the ratio of 50.0:7.5:2.5
for the first-, second- and third-mode TMD, respectively.
7.3.1. TMD effect on other modes When a TMD is
installed in the structure to control a particular mode,
properties of the finally obtained system become different
from those of the original structure. Now, if an additional
T M D tuned to another mode is also to be installed, it may
not perform as expected because of this effective change
in structural parameters. Also, the addition of a TMD may
affect the performance of T M D ( s ) already present.
This interaction effect is discussed with the help of a
harmonic base excitation analysis. The parameters of the
various TMDs used are given in Table 4. Figure 14a-c
demonstrates the effect of a TMD on the other modes of
the structure. The following observations are made:
(1) To effectively control any particular mode, a separate
TMD, specifically tuned to that mode, must be pro-
vided.
(2) The structural response of the first controlled mode is
marginally increased due to the presence of TMDs
tuned to other modes.
(3) The structural response of second and third controlled
mode is marginally reduced due to the presence of
TMDs tuned to other modes.
7.3.2. Time-history analysis It was observed in the
previous section that, the presence of higher-mode TMDs
causes some deterioration in the first-mode response
although this deterioration is very small. At the same time,

Table4 S t r u c t u r e - M T M D system t i m e - h i s t o r y analyses results

T M D description Floor El Centro Mexico

No. of T M D ( s ) Tuned to Parameters no. Peak RMS (cm) Peak (cm) RMS (cm)
(location) (cm)

1 1st m o d e m = 0.5 kg 3rd 13.29 4.58 22.33 5.60

(3rd f l o o r ) k = 9.11 N/m 2nd 9.87 3.61 -17.76 4.52
c = 0.43 N-s/m 1st 5.26 2.12 -10.20 2.59
TMD-1 -43.00 16.06 75.51 19.02

1st mode: as a b o v e 3rd 13.62 4.57 -22.22 5.62

(3rd f l o o r ) 2nd 9.66 3.61 17.89 4.53
2nd mode: m = 0.075 kg 1st 5.14 2.06 -10.20 2.59
(1st floor) k = 11.53 N / m TMD-1 -43.08 16.09 75.70 19.06
c = 0.07 N-s/m TMD- 2 18.24 6.45 12.82 3.25

1st mode: as a b o v e 3rd 13.63 4.57 22.26 5.63

(3rd floor) 2nd 9.69 3.61 17.91 4.54
2nd mode: as a b o v e 1st 5.15 2.07 10.21 2.60
(1st f l o o r ) TMD-1 -43.13 16.11 75.84 19.09
3rd mode: m = 0.025 kg TMD- 2 18.21 6.45 -12.84 3.25
(2rid f l o o r ) k = 8.09 N / m TMD- 3 11.41 4.28 19.23 4.83
c = 0.02 N-s/m

w/o TMD 3rd 15.65 6.45 23.47 5.66

2nd 11.02 5.13 19.07 4.61
1st 6.18 2.94 10.92 2.64
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong 203

Third floor response T h i r d floor r e s p o n s e

14.5 I I ' I I 1 I I 1.75 ./I .;
TMD (s) present for o,'
14.0

13.5 1.25
,I
~ 13.0
12.5 0.75

12.0

11.5 , I , I i I i I i I ~ I i I i 0.25

Second floor r e s p o n s e Second floor response

11.5 1.0 I ...

11.0

"~ 10.5

10.0
~ 0.5

9.5
.... ..--°""

9.0 , I , I ~ I ~ I , I ~ I , I , 0.0

First f l o o r r e s p o n s e F i r s t floor r e s p o n s e
6.5 I I I i I I I 1.5 ' ." I ' i ".

6.0

~ 1.0

5.5

o, ..,,"'"
0.5 I i I i
5.0
0.875 0.900 0.925 0.950 0.975 1.000 1.025 1.050 1.075 2.65 2.75 2.85 2.95
F r e q u e n c y ratio g l Frequency ratio gl
Third floor r e s p o n s e
0.3 I /' 1' I I ".,~
/ / "'~_.
•

0.2
t~ / " ~..."7-- - TM-D~;) ;r~t for
....... ll1 mode only
--- l i t l a l d 21XI modes
0.1 ..'~" -- 3¢d mode only
. .~-'~"
-- -- litlmd3rdmodes
-- - NI throe m o d e s
0.0 ~ I , I ,

Second floor r e s p o n s e
0.6 " ,.'1 I ' I " ;\ "

0.4

"" .N N

0.2 , I , I i I ,"-1%

First llOor r e s p o n s e
0.45 I : i • I ' I .,~
// -- .
0.35
j • .,"//

0.25

0.15 ,"=~" I i t i I i
3.95 4.00 4.05 4.10 4.15
F r e q u e n c y r a t i o 91

Figure 14a Effect of various TMD(s) on first mode; b effect of various TMD(s) on second mode; c effect of various TMD(s) on third
mode

to control higher modes, a separate TMD must be provided. Noting the various response values in Table 3 and com-
Therefore, it is reasonable to continue with the design of paring them to the corresponding uncontrolled responses,
MTMD and investigate its performance under some exci- it is clear that a MTMD does not result in appreciable
tation histories. Time-history analyses are done under E! response reduction in addition to what is already possible
Centro and Mexico earthquakes using one, two and three by a first-mode TMD.
TMDs, respectively. The parameters of the TMDs and the It is concluded that, the effect of controlling the higher
results of these analyses are summarized in Table 4. modes gets nullified by a marginal increase in the first
204
mode response. Therefore, the overall response is changed
by only a small amount. However, it should be noted that
the results obtained correspond to only the structure con-
sidered.
8. Conclusions
From the study performed in this work, the following main
conclusions can be drawn:
( l ) The effect of detuning in TMD parameters becomes
less detrimental with increasingly structural damping
and/or mass ratio.
(2) From the time-history analyses on SDOF structure-
TMD system, it was seen that for large damping of
structure, TMD was not found to give much response
reduction. In the time-history analysis using El Centro
and Mexico earthquakes, the TMD designed for har-
monic excitation was observed to be performing close
to the best possible. Considering the significantly dif-
ferent natures of these two earthquakes, this suggests
the practicality of use of harmonic excitation in the
TMD design.
(3) Optimal parameter values differ based on whether the
TMD is designed for base excitation or main mass
excitation. This difference between the two grows with
increasing structural damping and/or mass ratio.
(4) In the presence of inherent structural damping, opti-
mum TMD parameters must be obtained by a numeri-
cal search. The design of a TMD for a certain mode
of a MDOF structure can be easily done following a
simple procedure, as illustrated by a design example.
(5) From the harmonic and time-history analyses perfor-
med on a three DOF structure, equipped in turn with
a TMD and MTMD, it was observed that a modal con-
tamination problem was present. Because of second-
and third-mode TMD deteriorating the first mode
response, the MTMD was not found to be effective in
response control.
Tuned mass dampers: R. Rana and T. T. Soong
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