Design and Evaluation of Tuned Inerter-Based Dampers for the Seismic Control of MDOF Structures

The tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD) and tuned inerter damper (TID) are tuned inerter-based dampers (TIBDs) that can utilize amplified apparent mass and tuning effects. This study investigated the use of multiple TIBDs to mitigate the seismic responses of multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) structures. The locations and modes for tuning the TIBDs were analyzed by defining a placement index based on the H2 norm. The parameters of TVMDs and TIDs distributed throughout the structure and tuned to multiple modes were optimized by minimizing the H2 performance of the objective responses. The equivalent stiffness and damping of the TVMD and TID were considered to demonstrate TIBD control mechanisms, such as significant additional damping at the resonance frequency. As examples, 3-story and 10-story buildings were subjected to earthquakes with different spectra characteristics to validate the effectiveness of TIBD schemes. The results showed that distributed TIBDs tuned to properly selected modes significantly reduce the root-mean-square (RMS) responses of displacement and acceleration and perform superior than the viscous dampers and viscous mass dampers in reducing the peak displacement.