A glance at the effectiveness of large mass ratio TMDs in a coupled soil-structure system

Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) have been studied for years in many aspects ranging from elastic to inelastic structures, with linear and non-linear absorbers. Other features such as the variability of the frequency content and magnitude of the ground motion have also been investigated. Most research has been made on structures with fixed base, but it is known that soil-structure interaction can negatively affect the seismic performance of TMDs if not considered in design. In this study a coupled analysis of the entire soil-structure-TMD system is presented by referring to an existing building implemented in OpenSees. The structure is equipped with a non-conventional TMD characterized by a high mass ratio, realized as a superelevation of the existing structural layout. The TMD effectiveness under seismic conditions is evaluated through nonlinear dynamic analyses on the full soil-structure model, varying the TMD mass ratio and comparing the results with the ones obtained by means of the class...