A Family of Efficient Sloshing Liquid Dampers for Suppression of Wind-Induced Instabilities

Abstract

Bluff structures in the form of tall buildings, smokestacks, control towers, bridges, etc., are susceptible to vortex resonance and galloping type of instabilities. One approach to vibration control of such systems is through energy dissipation using sloshing liquid dampers. In this paper we focus on enhancing the energy dissipation efficiency of a rectangular liquid damper through the introduction of two-dimensional obstacles as well as floating particles. The investigation has two phases. To begin with, a parametric free vibration study aimed at the optimization of the obstacle geometry is undertaken to arrive at configurations promising increased damping ratio and hence higher energy dissipation. The study is complemented by an extensive wind tunnel test program, which substantiates the effectiveness of this class of damper in suppressing both vortex resonance and galloping type of instabilities. Simplicity of design, ease of implementation, minimal maintenance, reliability as well as high efficiency make such liquid dampers quite attractive for real-life applications.