Modal damping evaluation of hybrid FRP cable with smart dampers for long-span cable-stayed bridges

The paper presents a theoretical evaluation on modal damping of hybrid fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) cable with smart damper design in long-span cable-stayed bridge. The principles and design consideration of smart dampers were first clarified. Based on the energy principle, the theoretical equations of modal damping were derived for in-plane and out-of-plane vibrations, respectively. The parameters that influence the damping effect were further analyzed. Finally, an example of hybrid basalt and carbon FRP cable with smart dampers was selected to evaluate damping ratio in terms of the equations derived in the paper. The results show that (1) the smart dampers with discontinuous distribution benefit not only static and dynamic behavior of a cable but also optimization of damping; (2) the gap width, bonding, length and modulus of each smart damper can be optimized to obtain maximum of potential damping; (3) an example of smart damper designed hybrid FRP cable demonstrates its effectiveness for mitigating large magnitude of in-plane vibration, while more dominant damping effect is observed for suppressing out-of-plane vibration.