Effects of strong ground motion characteristics on the efficiency of Tuned Liquid Column Dampers

Various types of passive control systems have been used to suppress the seismic excitations of structures recently. Among these systems, the Tuned Liquid Column Dampers (TLCDs) dissipate the input earthquake energy by the combined action involving the movement of liquid mass in container, the restoring force on the liquid due to gravity loads and the damping due to liquid movement through orifices. In this study, effects of strong ground motion characteristics such as frequency content and soil condition on the seismic efficiency of TLCDs are investigated. In this regard, among the past earthquake ground motion records of Iran, a number of records with different parameters were selected. The effects of strong ground motion characteristics on the efficiency of TLCDs were investigated using numerical analyses. The results show that mentioned parameters have substantial role on the seismic performance of TLCDs and they should be considered in designing of TLCDs.