Development of the Passive Negative Stiffness Damper for Reducing Absolute Responses of Railway Structures

Abstract eng:
In this paper, a new vibration control device realizing negative stiffness in a passive manner is proposed in order to reduce the absolute response of structures under strong seismic motions. The developed device consists of a sliding plate with a PTFE portion, and they are vertically pressurized by coil springs. The shape of the sliding plate is convex, by which the control force is negatively proportional to the deformation. In addition, the proposed device comes with supplemental friction energy dissipation between the sliding plate and the PTFE in order to prevent a significant increase in the displacement of the damper. The prototype of the proposed device was assembled, and its performance was investigated through both sinusoidal and hybrid loading tests. It was found from the periodical loading tests that the proposed device generated the designated negative stiffness as well as friction energy dissipations in a good accuracy. It was also confirmed from the hybrid loading tests assuming the viaduct equipped with the damper device that the proposed device significantly reduced the absolute and relative responses of the slab and base shear of the column. It consequently follows that the proposed negative stiffness damper could be applicable to railway structures, assuring structural damage reduction and running safety of trains simultaneously.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket