Tuned Mass Damper on a Suspension Bridge under Wind Buffeting: Modeling, Hybridization and Robustness

Capacity of a system to perform with a satisfactorily behavior, when damages in some of its elements occur, is a key aspect for a rational design, and has focused also the attention of designers. In light of this, a controlled suspension bridge is herein considered as a case study for performing numerical simulations where the robustness of the control system, consisting in Tuned Mass Dampers at the bridge deck mid-span for mitigating variable wind buffeting, is investigated. A failure of the Tuned Mass Dampers system, is simulated by an additional fixed mass on the bridge main girder. It is expected that such a failure will degrade the performance of the whole system, but that this will still be comparable to that of the uncontrolled bridge version. Hybridization of the Tuned Mass Dampers system, by means of passive and semi-active dampers between the towers and the deck, seems also a promising solution for improving the robustness of the system against local malfunctioning. An hybrid system is studied where the reduction in performance due to the Tuned Mass Damper failure is compensated by the presence of dampers along the deck. Finally, a simplified approach of modeling the bridge is introduced to economize on the numerical cost of studies on the structure dynamics and control issues.