TUNED LIQUID

DAMPERS

INTRODUCTION
Increasing trends to construct tall structures
Lead to increasingly flexible and lightly damped structures
Sensitive to environmental excitations
Unwanted vibrations inducing possible structural failure
Need practical and effective devices for suppression of these
vibrations
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SUPPLEMENTAL DAMPING
SYSTEMS

Active systems

Externally applied force which tends to oppose the vibrations

Control force is generated depending on the feedback
Needs continuous external power source
Semi active systems
Need less amount of external power
Control the vibrations by modifying structural properties
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Passive systems
Impart forces that are developed in response to the motion
Properties are constant and cannot be modified
Not require an external power source
Uncertainty of power supply and need of large power source
Robust and cost-effective

TUNED LIQUID DAMPERS

A rigid rectangular or a cylindrical liquid container connected to
the top of structure
Reduce structural vibrations by energy dissipation caused by
sloshing of liquid
Tuned to slosh at the natural frequency of the structure
Inertia forces created approximately anti-phase to building
motion
Amplitude of the fluid motion and wave breaking
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Tuned Liquid Damper connected to the

top of Structure
(Source: Nadine. M, 2008)

TLD motion phases (a) Structure at rest, (b)

Structure under excitation force
(Source: Robrt Halworson, 2008)

DAMPING MECHANISM OF
TLD

Mechanism of the TLD

(Source: Jin Kyu Yu, 1997)

CLASSIFICATION OF TLD

Schematic of Tuned Liquid

Damper Family
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)

TUNED SLOSHING
DAMPER(TSD)
Single or group
of liquid stored containers
Ratio of depth of water to the length in direction of vibration
<.15 shallow and >.15 deep
Shallow TSD has better damping at smaller external vibrations
Difficult to analyze for a large scale of external vibrations as
sloshing of water exhibits nonlinear behaviour

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Deep water type, the sloshing exhibits linear behaviour for a

large scale of externally excited force
Baffles or screens are needed to enhance damping
A large portion of water does not participate in sloshing

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Tuned Sloshing Damper

Dimensions
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)

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TUNED LIQUID COLUMN

DAMPER(TLCD)
Combined action
of motion of the liquid mass in the tube and
damping effect of orifice
The restoring force is due to the gravity acting upon the liquid
Loss of hydraulic pressure due to the orifice (s) installed
inside the container

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Tuned Liquid Column

Damper
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)

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Advantages
TLCD take less space
Tune the frequency by adjusting the liquid column in the tube
Control the damping capacity by controlling orifice opening

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Liquid column vibration absorbers(LCVA)

Cross section of the LCVA is not uniform

Benefits of easy tuning and wide range of natural frequency
Natural frequency determined not only by the length of the
liquid column but also the geometric configuration

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Double tuned liquid column damper(DTLCD)

Two Tuned Liquid Columns in orthogonal directions

Bidirectional nature of action
Applied effectively to the structure that oscillates in
bidirectional plane
More effective than LCVA

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Double Tuned Liquid Column

Damper
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)

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Hybrid tuned liquid column damper(HTLCD)

Unidirectional TLCD fixed on the surface of a rotatable

circular platform
Platform motion controlled by an electrical-mechanical system
Passive in generation of control force
Active in searching the right direction

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Pressurized Tuned Liquid Column

Damper
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)
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Pressurized tuned liquid column damper(PTLCD)

A static pressure inside two sealed air chambers at two ends of

a TLCD
Frequency can be adjusted in two ways
Length of its liquid column
The pressure inside its two air chambers

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Pressurized Tuned Liquid Column

Damper
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)
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CONTROLLABLE TUNED LIQUID

DAMPER
Forces act on structure
are often spread over a band of
frequencies
Excitation force & response of structures are measured by sensors
Measured force and response are sent to a control computer
Sends an appropriate signal to the actuators
Actuator modifies the dynamic characteristics of the damper

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Schematic Diagram for a Structural

Control Problem
(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)

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Controlled Tuned Liquid Dampers are proposed for

Controlling the angle of baffles
Regulates the effective length of the damper
Servo actuator is used to generate the control force to control
the movement of the platform
Controlling the orifice opening

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TLD DESIGN PARAMETERS

Tuning ratio (= fw/ fs)
Rectangular tank,

Circular tank,

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Mass ratio ( =mw/ms)

Depth ratio (=h/L)

Sloshing response in the TLD

(Source: Bharadwaj Nanda, 2010)
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Additional damping devices

Screens

Energy dissipation due to fluid follow through the orifices

Damping can be adjusted by changing the screen solidity ratio

Floating particles

Collision between the floating particles

Floating particles of polypropylene or polyethylene pallets

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EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF TLD

Experimental
set up

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TLD mounted on top of a simple structural frame model

Further mounted on a shake table
Base plate of the structural model is directly welded to table
TLD consists of four tanks that are stacked one above other
Accelerometers are placed at top and at the base of structural
Mild steel plates of varying thickness represent a rigid roof
control mass of structure
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Four high tensile steel rods of 7-mm diameter represent columns

Mass ratio and depth ratio is controlled by selectively filling
water in the tanks
RPM of the motor which is connected to the shake table can be
varied to achieve base motions at different frequencies
Find the structural response without TLD
Structure test by placing TLD with varying mass ratio, depth
ratio and tuning ratio

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Experiment
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EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Effect of damping

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Displacements and accelerations decrease with the

introduction of TLD
Effectiveness of TLDs, ,

xTLD is the peak displacement value with TLD

x0 is the peak displacement value without TLD
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Effect of Tuning ratio

35

Maximum control response is obtained when the tuning ratio

is unity
Sloshing force inside the TLD would be anti-phase to the
motion of the structure

36

Effect of mass ratio

37

From 0.5 % to 6 % has been considered

3 % mass ratio provides the most reduction
10% increase in TLD efficiency when mass ratio increases
from 1.5% to 3%
Considering practical issues a mass ratio of 1.5%
Mass ratios larger than 3%, beating phenomenon was observed

38

Effect of depth ratio

39

Depth ratios varying from 0.05 to 0.3 are considered

Relationship between the structural response amplitude in
resonance condition and the corresponding water depth ratios
Optimum water depth ratio corresponds to the minimum
response amplitude 0.125-.15
Low depth ratio leads to sloshing and water breaking
Also depends the tuning of TLD
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ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF TLD

Advantages
Low installation and RMO cost
Fewer mechanical problems as no moving part is present
Easy to install in new as well as in existing buildings
Applicable to temporary use

41

Ease of tuning by changing the liquid level or the tank

dimensions
Unidirectional and bidirectional damper
Effective even under small-amplitude vibrations
No fail-safe devices required
Can be used as building water storage for fire emergencies etc

42

Limitations
All the water mass does not participate in counteracting the
structural motion
Complex behavior due to highly non-linear sloshing of liquid
Damping introduced by the liquid itself may not be enough for
some applications
Take up a lot of valuable space, especially at the top of
skyscrapers which is prime space
TLD design involve many approximations
43

PRACTICAL IMPIMENTATIONS
NAGASAKI AIRPORT TOWER
First TLD installation on ground surface on march 1987
Temporary installation to verify the effectiveness of the TLD
Fundamental natural frequency of the sloshing motion of
water was almost in tune with the tower
Mass ratio 1.5%
Decrease in amplitude of vibration is 44 % and reduction in
RMS displacement was around 35%.
44

TLD vessel installed on

NAT
(Source: Yukio Tamura et, al,
1995)

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SHIN YOKOMA PRINCE HOTEL

Installed on the roof floor of SYPH in March 1992
Multi-layer stack of 30 circular containers each 2 m in
diameter and 22 cm high with floating polyethylene particles
Water depth of .124m in each layer needs to tuned
Water mass is 1% of fundamental generalized mass of tower
RMS accelerations in each direction were reduced 50% to 70%
46

TLD vessel installed on

SYPH
(Source: Yukio Tamura et, al,
1995)

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ONE RINCON TOWER, SAN FRANCISCO

Designed in February 2008
Tank is approximately 5 feet tall and has 50,000-gallon
(189,250 liter) water
Mass ratio is less than 1%.
Two screens located in the tanks to help "tune" or modulate
the flow of the water
Improved the structural response of 50-60% of the original
structural response
48

TLD vessel installed on One Rincon

Tower
(Source: Nadine.M, 2008)

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CONCLUSION

TLD can effectively used to control the vibration of the taller

and lighter structures
Energy dissipation through liquid sloshing and wave breaking
Properly tuned to natural frequency of structure was more
effective in controlling the vibration
An efficient, cheap and simple technique
Structural performance of a TLD depends on depth ratio, mass
ratio, and tuning ratio and additional devices can enhance the
damping
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THANK
YOU
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