Motion‐based design of vibrating civil engineering structures under uncertainty conditions

Abstract

Improvements in the strength of construction materials, together with the esthetic requirements demanded by current societies, have led to a continuous increase in the slenderness of modern civil engineering structures. This fact results into lightweight designs that, unfortunately, must cope with two key problems: (a) slender structures are not only prone to vibrate under external actions; but (b) their dynamic behavior becomes also more sensitive to the intrinsic variability of the operational and environmental service conditions. These two circumstances must be faced from the early conceptual design phase of the structure. With the aim to assist in this process, a motion‐based design method, under a stochastic approach, is proposed, implemented and validated in this paper. In our proposal, the conceptual design problem is transformed into the combination of two coupled subproblems, involving an optimization subproblem plus a reliability analysis subproblem. The performance of the proposed method is illustrated via its application to a numerical case study involving the optimal design of two tuned mass dampers, installed to control the pedestrian‐induced vibrations in a cable‐stayed footbridge with prestressed concrete deck.

Analytical Evaluation of Natural Frequencies in Hollow-Core Slabs: A PracticalMethodology for Civil Engineering Applications

“…This includes evaluating the vibrations caused by human activities on civil structures, such as walking, running, and jumping [1]. The use of high-strength construction materials has facilitated the design and construction of longer structural spans, resulting in slender architectures that are more susceptible to unwanted vibrations [2][3][4][5]. Another issue is the low internal damping ratio in high-strength concrete, where the reduction of porosity and water in the mix can lead to insufficient damping performance.…”

“…This nonmassive geometry and lower specific weight make hollow-core slabs more prone to vibrations. The use of prestressing in hollow-core slabs allows for an increase in the bending crack moments, which allows the element to have larger spans, but also contributes to its tendency to vibrate [5,8].…”

Experimental and analytical studies of the dynamic behavior of particle dampers prepared with waste cement‐based materials

“…In recent years, the concrete structures, especially highrise buildings, increasing attention have been paid to the vibration control measures and methods. 1,2 Particle damper (PD), which was initially applied in the mechanical and aerospace area, has been widely investigated in the field of vibration control of civil engineering. 3,4 The vibration reduction mechanism of PD is through the combined effects of particle-to-particle and particle-to-wall collisions and fractions, in which the vibration was dissipated in the collision process.…”

“…In recent years, the concrete structures, especially high‐rise buildings, increasing attention have been paid to the vibration control measures and methods 1,2 . Particle damper (PD), which was initially applied in the mechanical and aerospace area, has been widely investigated in the field of vibration control of civil engineering 3,4 .…”

Assessment of the lateral vibration serviceability limit state of slender footbridges including the postlock-in behaviour

“…On the other hand, Jimenez-Alonso and Sáez [57] uses a probabilistic approach to simulate these uncertainties by assuming that the footbridge modal parameters are random variables. Both highlight the importance of considering these uncertainties, given that the characteristics of the TMD (mass, damping and stiffness) should be tuned to the modal parameters of the footbridge.…”