Elimination of tall building vibration resulting from ground motions

In this paper, the vibration problems of tall buildings are considered. The focus is on vibration caused by earthquakes, semi–seismic phenomena and ground vibrations of other origins. The construction consists of the main system and a vibration eliminator (passive tuned mass damper – pendulum type) which is attuned to the first eigenfrequency of the main structure. The analysis focuses on elimination of structure vibration caused by horizontal components of ground motions, while the functioning of the eliminator is simultaneously influenced by the vertical component (parametric effect – the possibility of improper functioning of the device). The vertical periodic movement of the support point can cause changes of the vibration eliminator's stiffness. In such a case parametric excitation occurs in the system, which signifies that parametric resonance may appear. The numerical analysis of the problem was performed with the Newmark method in conjunction with FEM. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)