Motion-based design of viscous dampers for cable-stayed bridges under uncertainty conditions

Abstract

Passive damping devices are widely installed to control the vibration level of stay cables of bridges induced by wind action. The design of passive damping devices must ensure the performance for the all the life-cycle of the structure. In this sense, the design should consider the changes of the pre-fixed parameters and environmental conditions. For this purpose, the motion-based design method under uncertainty conditions is used in this study to carry out the design of a viscous damper. Following this approach, the design requirements are established according to the maximum accepted motions of the structure and the damper device is optimized. In order to validate the method, a benchmark structure is considered. The uncertainty conditions are numerically simulated following a probabilistic approach. As simulation method, the Latin Hypercube is employed. The reliability index is used as reference parameter for the probabilistic assessment.