Tuned Damping of Floor Vibration

Control of floor vibration, via damping, using a three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) tuned mass damper (TMD) is explored. Three-DOF TMDs can provide as much effectiveness as traditional one degree-of-freedom TMDs while possessing less internal damping than the traditional TMDs. In this work, the use of such a system as a damping treatment for floor vibration is explored. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed damping-enhancement system, a scaled floor with the first resonant frequency of around 9 Hz (typical first resonant frequency of most commercial building floors) is fabricated. A 3-DOF TMD, appended to the center of the floor, is tuned to the first mode of the floor to provide damping at that mode. The comparison of the floor vibration without and with this damping treatment exhibited an average reduction of close to 10 dBs in the magnitude of the targeted mode, signifying the high damping effectiveness of the treatment.Copyright © 2005 by ASME