Effect of Flexible Foundation on Seismic Response Control of Building with Tuned Mass Dampers

Multi-mode seismic response control of buildings on flexible foundation using tuned mass dampers (TMDs) is studied. The multi-mode control is achieved using distributed multiple tuned mass dampers (d-MTMDs) and arbitrarily installed distributed MTMDs (ad-MTMDs). The performance of the d-MTMDs and ad-MTMDs are compared with the case of single tuned mass damper (STMD), and MTMDs controlling the fundamental modal responses (MTMDs.all@top). In this study multi-storey reinforced concrete (RC) high-rise building is considered as shear type structure, and soil-structure interaction (SSI) is duly accounted for. The soil is idealized in single strata beneath the foundation, which consist of raft foundation. The raft and the surrounding soil are modeled considering frequency independent constants for the springs and dashpots. The time domain seismic analysis based on Newmark’s method of average acceleration is employed for the non-classically damped system. The displacement and acceleration response at the top of the building under earthquake ground motion are computed to study the effectiveness in the STMD, MTMDs.all@top, ad-MTMDs, and d-MTMDs cases. It is concluded that the soil type greatly affects the design parameters of the STMD/ MTMDs.all@top/ ad-MTMDs/ d-MTMDs, and seismic response of the building with flexible foundation. Furthermore, the d-MTMDs are more effective than the STMD, MTMDs.all@top, and ad-MTMDs, while considering equal total mass of the TMD(s).