Active Tuned Mass Damper

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the design and implementation of an Active Tuned Mass Damper (ATMD) and to determine its effectiveness experimentally and theoretically. ATMDs are damping units placed in structures where a mass is actuated to move out of phase with respect to the movement of the structure to reduce vibrations. In this paper, an ATMD is used to reduce the vibrations of a scaled-down four-story building. The building is subjected to base excitation through a crank-slider motor mechanism on the bottom floor. The ATMD consists of a mass which is actuated through a DC motor. Using feedback from an accelerometer placed on the topmost floor, a proportional gain controller is implemented through LabVIEW to control the motion of the mass. The results show that the ATMD system has damped approximately 49.7% of the vibrational amplitude.