TUNED LIQUID-COLUMN-DAMPER WITH A SELF REGULATING DAMPING MECHANISM

摘要

Modern tall structures are susceptible to vibration induced by wind, earthquake, water waves, etc. These vibrations can cause uneasiness to occupants and under certain conditions can lead to overstressing of structural components. Tuned liquid column damper is one of the techniques used for controlling vibration of structures caused by external sources. A typical passive TLCD consists of a U-tube filled partially with water or some fluid and provided with an orifice in the horizontal section at bottom. The degree of damping of a passive TLCD is fixed. Normal practice for TLCD is to tune the system for particular frequencies, very close to the natural frequency of the structure under vibrational control. But excitations such as wind and earthquake are multi-frequency forces and passive damping systems are not equally effective to suppress vibrations of all the range of frequencies, caused by such forces. In order to overcome this problem, the present invention uses a self regulating damping mechanism to improve performance of passive TLCD by making use of collision and subsequent mixing of flowing water to dissipate energy. The invention consists of a U-shaped tube or vessel, with a pair of opposite upstanding end portions interconnected at bottom by a pair of horizontal sections. The ends of these horizontal sections are connected where it joins with vertical columns in such a was as to change the direction of flow of fluid flowing through the pair of the said horizontal members to collide causing energy dissipation .