SMALL SCALE EXPERIMENTAL TESTING TO VERIFY THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE BASE ISOLATION AND TUNED MASS DAMPERS COMBINED CONTROL STRATEGY

This paper presents the most significant results obtained within a broad range of experimental tests aimed at evaluating both the effectiveness and robustness of the Base Isolation (BIS) and Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) combined control strategy (BIS&TMD). After a brief description of the experimental model set-up, the paper describes the identification procedures for the fixed base structure, the base isolated structure and the base isolated structure equipped with a mass damper system. The main experimental results, representing the dynamic response of a small-scale model to scaled recorded earthquake excitations, are later presented and discussed. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the combined control strategy is investigated by comparing the model’s dynamic response, in particular the reduction in relative displacements and absolute accelerations due to the application of different mass damping systems are evaluated.