Seismic effectiveness of tuned mass dampers in a life-cycle cost perspective

The effectiveness of tuned mass dampers (TMDs) in reducing the seismic response of civil structures is still a debated issue. The few studies regarding TMDs on inelastic structures indicate that they would perform well under moderate earthquake loading, when the structure remains linear or weakly nonlinear, while tending to fail under severe ground shaking, when the structure experiences strong nonlinearities. TMD seismic efficiency should be therefore rationally assessed by considering to which extent moderate and severe earthquakes respectively contribute to the expected cost of damages and losses over the lifespan of the structure. In this paper, a method for evaluating, in a life-cycle cost (LCC) perspective, the seismic effectiveness of TMDs on inelastic building structures is presented and exemplified on the SAC LA 9-storey steel moment-resisting frame benchmark building. Results show that the LCC concept may provide an appropriate alternative to traditional performance criteria for the evaluation of the effectiveness of TMDs and that TMD installation on typical existing middle-rise buildings in high seismic hazard regions may significantly reduce building lifetime cost despite the poor control performance observed under the most severe seismic events.