Seismic response control by tuned liquid dampers for low-rise RC frame buildings

The Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) is a passive supplemental damping device which can be used for effective mitigation of wind and earthquake induced responses. The use of TLDs in low to medium rise reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is a less explored area and needs to be investigated. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the applicability of flat bottom rectangular TLD to low-rise buildings using normal water and a sugar–water solution (higher density then normal water). Also, in flat bottom rectangular TLD the circulation of the liquid continues even after the excitation stops, which is detrimental to the structure and this issue has been addressed here. For this purpose a series of tests has been carried out for parametric study on such TLDs, varying the ratio of water depth to length of tank, excitation frequencies and amplitudes. The applicability of TLD in RC building has been investigated using a three-storey 1/4 scale RC building model. The model has been tested in a shake table. TLDs have been mounted on the roof of the building model and the dynamical response of the model without TLD and with TLD using normal water and water-sugar solution have been carried out. It has been found that flat bottom rectangular TLD can control the vibration response of low rise building model satisfactorily. Also, the sugar–water solution gives better performance in reducing the structural response. © 2017 Engineers Australia.