External damping of stay cables using adaptive and semi-active vibration control

In this paper, the performances of different external damping systems for stay cables are studied based on numerical simulations. Two types of dampers have been analysed; a near anchorage viscous damper and a tuned mass damper (TMD) mounted near the midspan of the stay cable. For the passive case, both dampers are tuned to the fundamental mode of vibration of the cable. The optimal viscous damping for the near anchorage damper is determined based on well-known equations for a taut string. For the TMD, parametrical studies have been performed to determine the optimal damping ratio as function of the damper mass. The resulting vibration mitigation from the two systems are also studied for higher modes of vibration and the potential increase in performance using an adaptive or semi-active vibration control system is studied.