Passive and active mass damper control of the response of tall buildings to wind gustiness

The performance of passive (TMD), active (AMD) and hybrid (ATMD) mass dampers for the reduction of the buffeting response of tall buildings is investigated. First a simple 1+1 DoF system is considered to model the main structure provided with a mass damper, and the wind buffeting force is simplified into a white noise excitation. A linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control law is used, and in the case of the ATMD, the results are compared to those obtained with a closed form design procedure from the literature. Second a 64-storey building is considered, and modelled accounting for its first four longitudinal modes. In the latter case a more realistic buffeting excitation is considered, accounting for the frequency distribution of the atmospheric turbulence, and for its vertical correlation. It is pointed out how the performance of each device is strongly related to the response parameter to be mitigated, and how simplified 1+1 DoF models can inaccurately estimate the system response, and therefore the control performance.