Walking, amongst other Human activities, is the most common cause of floor vibration that can lead to nuisance in building occupants. Walking-induced floor vibration can cause discomfort in people working or living in the building. Adding architectural features, mass and/or stiffness are commonly viewed as possible solutions to floor vibration problem. Such solutions are costly to install and architecturally unattractive in a new building and difficult to implement in, and cause inconvenience and disruption to the occupants of, existing buildings. An attractive alternative to the above-mentioned solutions for mitigating floor vibration is adding tuned damping to the floor by installing
tuned mass dampers (TMDs). Negligible weight penalty, low cost, and ease of installation make tuned mass dampers (TMDs) the most practical, cost-effective, and least disruptive floor vibration control solution for both new and existing floor systems.
DEICON presented a webinar, thru the
SE University, titled
‘Using Tuned Mass Dampers to Control Floor Vibrations’ in which the use of tuned damping in reducing the vibration of floor systems was discussed. In the webinar, following a short introduction to floor vibration and commonly used vibration mitigation practices, the concept of tuned damping was discussed. The session continued with the introduction of tuned mass dampers including their make-up, optimal design, and installation. After reviewing case studies, the design of tuned mass dampers for a floor system were demonstrated. The session concluded with a brief discussion of other applications of tuned mass dampers.