Suppression of Vehicle-induced Bridge Vibration Using Tuned Mass Damper

Abstract

This paper focused on a numerical model for vehicle-induced bridge vibrations controlled with a tuned mass damper (TMD) system, taking road surface conditions into account. A computer program was developed to study the possible effectiveness of the TMD for suppressing the vibration of bridges under vehicle loads. Then, a comprehensive investigation was conducted on different bridges under two vehicle load patterns, i.e. two trucks moving side by side or several trucks passing over the bridge in a traffic flow. It was found that the additional damping provided by the TMD results in a reduction of the maximum dynamic displacement for both free and forced vibrations. On the other hand, for all the bridges investigated in this study, the reduction of acceleration is also significant. More generally speaking, it can be concluded that for the same TMD installed on the same bridge, it is more effective for cases with trucks passing over the bridge in traffic flow than for cases with only one truck. Such a study is helpful in evaluating the control performance before the real control devices are designed in practice.