Modeling and analysis of a structure semi‐active tuned liquid damper system

Summary A tuned liquid damper (TLD), which is similar to a tuned mass damper (TMD), is a type of dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) that can be employed to reduce wind induced resonant vibrations of a structure. Improved TLD performance could be realized by equipping TLDs with variable energy dissipating capabilities such as damping screens, which can be adjusted through a certain mechanism, permitting optimal control performance to be maintained over a wide range of loading conditions in a semi‐active mode of control. In this paper, a control strategy based on a gain scheduling scheme is utilized by controlling the inclination angle of the damping screen(s) and consequently the screen loss coefficient value(s). The gain scheduling control strategy is employed on a simple single‐story structure equipped with a semi‐active TLD (SA‐TLD) in order to maintain the optimal damping value (ζTLD − opt) based on averaged or instantaneous structural response tracking and a prescribed look‐up table. Results are assessed using experimental values from tests conducted on conventional passive TLDs. A performance comparison between a semi‐active TLD control system and a conventional passive TLD control system is carried out. The fluid response amplitude for a SA‐TLD is also investigated and compared to that of a passive TLD. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.