The Arc Majeur, when art challenges technology

Abstract

The “Arc Majeur” is a curved metal boxes with a square section of 2,25 m culminating about 60 m high. The square section of the arc is likely to produce vortex-induced vibrations in the direction perpendicular to that of the wind. The main arc is therefore equipped with a "Tuned Mass Damper" (TMD).In the case of the “Arc Majeur”, the proper functioning of the damper is essential because the amplitudes of vibrations reached under vortex-induced vibrations would cause the arc to break. A monitoring system continuously records the vibrations of both the damper and the structure and transmits alerts in the event of a malfunction.A live post processing has been developed to verify that the damper functions as intended, and that the overall vibration amplitude remains small. The results of the first year of monitoring are presented in this paper.