Motion-Based Design of Passive Damping Devices to Mitigate Wind-Induced Vibrations in Stay Cables

Abstract

Wind action can induce large amplitude vibrations in the stay cables of bridges. To reduce the vibration level of these structural elements, different types of passive damping devices are usually installed. In this paper, a motion-based design method is proposed and implemented in order to achieve the optimum design of different passive damping devices for stay cables under wind action. According to this method, the design problem is transformed into an optimization problem. Thus, its main aim is to minimize the different terms of a multi-objective function, considering as design variables the characteristic parameters of each considered passive damping device. The multi-objective function is defined in terms of the scaled characteristic parameters, one single-function for each parameter, and an additional function that checks the compliance of the considered design criterion. Genetic algorithms are considered as a global optimization method. Three passive damping devices have been studied herein: viscous, elastomeric and friction dampers. As a benchmark structure, the Alamillo bridge (Seville, Spain), is considered in order to validate the performance of the proposed method. Finally, the parameters of the damping devices designed according to this proposal are successfully compared with the results provided by a conventional design method.

Motion-Based Design of Passive Damping Systems to Reduce Wind-Induced Vibrations of Stay Cables under Uncertainty Conditions

“…In order to overcome this limitation, a motion-based design method [29] under uncertainty conditions is formulated, implemented and further validated in this paper. In fact, this proposal generalizes the formulation of a well-known design method, the so-called motion-based design method under deterministic conditions [30], to the abovementioned uncertainty conditions. The proposed motion-based design method under uncertainty conditions transforms the design problem into a constraint multi-objective optimization problem.…”

“…Thus, this computational tool allows the optimum size, shape or topology of the structure to be found which meet the design requirements established by the designer/manufacturer/owner. Among the different structural optimization methods, the performance-based design method has been widely employed to design passive damping devices for civil engineering structures [23,30]. When the design requirements are defined in terms of the vibration serviceability limit state of the structure, the performance-based design method is denominated the motion-based design method [29].…”

“…The analysis of the dynamic behavior of stay cables has been studied extensively over the last four decades. Thus, analytical [40], numerical [30], and experimental studies [41] have been performed for this purpose. Among the different proposals, a numerical method, the FE method was considered herein to develop a damper-cable interaction model.…”

“…Among the different proposals, a numerical method, the FE method was considered herein to develop a damper-cable interaction model. This method presents three main advantages when it is implemented for this particular problem [30]: (i) its easy implementation for practical civil engineering applications; (ii) it allows a direct interaction of element with different constitutive laws (cable and dampers); and (iii) it simplifies the simulation of some effects such us the nonlinear behavior of the cable [40], the sag effect [42], and the influence of the external dampers on the modal properties of the cables (locking effect) [43].…”

Asymmetric Oscillations of AFG Microscale Nonuniform Deformable Timoshenko Beams

“…Vibrating [1] standard structural continuous elements (plates, shells, and beams) are the building blocks in many civil structures and machines even at small-scale levels [2][3][4][5][6][7]. The micro/nanoscale version of these structural elements are the building blocks of micro/nanomachines [8][9][10][11].…”