Comparison of the Dynamic Characteristics of Tuned Liquid Column Dampers with Different Elbow Forms

Abstract

This study aims to examine experimentally the damping performance of Tuned Liquid Column Dampers (TLCD) by considering different elbow forms. Experiments carried out within the scope of the study point out the dynamic characteristics of TLCD, which has 45 (open) and 90 (closed) degree-elbow forms with theoretical angular frequencies that are the same. Experiments consist of +/- 5 and +/- 10 mm harmonic excitation amplitude to observe the relationship between the damping ratio and head loss coefficient with the mass ratio of the TLCD. These experiments with an incremental mass ratio of 0.05% from 0.80% to 1.00% and with an incremental mass ratio of 0.10% from 1.00% to 1.20% had been carried out in detail. Mass and stiffness Modification Factors (MF) are suggested to minimize the difference between numerical and experimental results. Determined MFs are used to examine the earthquake performance of TLCD on a Single-Degree-of-Freedom (SDOF) system. It is shown that the open elbow has an advantage of approximately 25% over the close elbow under earthquake performance on the SDOF system.