Tuned Mass Dampers for Vibration Control of Footbridges from an Architectural Point of View

Pedestrian comfort, subtle design, minimizing the number of fixed supports of the footbridge or material saving. These are the key arguments for integrating Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) into the bridge project. The aim is to protect people and bridge structure from vibration and damage. The following paper presents findings from the design, production and tuning of mass dampers, their optimization possibilities and benefits for bridge engineering. From an architectural point of view, the TMD should be fully or at least partially integrated into the bridge design in order not to disturb the overall bridge appearance from the frog or side perspective. There are several ways to achieve this, from the materials, covers or colors used, over the TMD design aligned with the bridge design, to a special TMD chamber within the bridge deck to house the damper. The main challenges are extremely slender bridge structures or structures densely interrupted by beams. The goal is to marry form and function. This paper presents best practice from the Czech Republic and Slovakia regarding TMD function and form. It concerns the Štvanice footbridge over the Vltava River in Prague, the footbridge over the Jizera river in Mladá Boleslav connecting Škoda Auto with a meadow, footbridge in Bílovice nad Svitavou with extremely slender bridge structure and the bicycle bridge over the high-speed road in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia. Dynamic tests including measurements were carried out before and after the installation of the dampers. The dynamic monitoring of the compliance of modal parameters was performed using Operational Modal Analysis (OMA). The evaluation of the dynamic tests also includes the response to pedestrian effects (comfort criteria) and the determination of the logarithmic decrement of the damping.     «

Pedestrian comfort, subtle design, minimizing the number of fixed supports of the footbridge or material saving. These are the key arguments for integrating Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD) into the bridge project. The aim is to protect people and bridge structure from vibration and damage. The following paper presents findings from the design, production and tuning of mass dampers, their optimization possibilities and benefits for bridge engineering. From an architectural point of view, the TMD should...     »