Advanced damping devices for tall buildings under seismic and wind loads: A state-of-the-art review

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has produced taller, more slender buildings that are increasingly vulnerable to wind and earthquake-induced vibrations. This review synthesizes advances in passive, semi-active, and hybrid damping technologies for tall building applications, with emphasis on tuned mass dampers (TMDs), multiple TMDs (MTMDs), tuned liquid dampers (TLDs), inerter-based devices (e.g., TMDI/TMDFI), viscous and viscoelastic dampers, and magnetorheological (MR) systems. A systematic search (2000–2025; Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar) and staged screening were used to extract device principles, optimization strategies, placement and configuration practices, and comparative performance under seismic versus wind actions. Unlike existing review studies that typically focus on individual device classes or single hazard scenarios, this review provides an integrated, multi-hazard comparison across a broad spectrum of damping technologies. Comparative evaluation is conducted using consistently reported performance criteria, including inter-story drift, acceleration and displacement reduction, robustness to detuning, and practical implementation considerations. The reviewed literature generally reports acceleration and displacement reductions in the range of 40–60% for well-tuned passive systems, depending on hazard type, tuning strategy, and structural configuration and inter-story drifts by up to 65%, while MTMDs and inerter-based variants broaden control bandwidth and improve detuning robustness with smaller physical masses. Viscous dampers excel under short-duration, high-velocity seismic demands, whereas viscoelastic devices perform more effectively for long-duration wind-induced serviceability, with hybrid systems leveraging the advantages of both. Semi-active solutions, such as MR dampers and smart variable-stiffness TMDs, enable adaptive retuning with low power demand, improving reliability under changing structural properties, soil structure interaction, and multi-hazard conditions. The main contribution of this review lies in synthesizing reported performance trends, optimization strategies, and implementation considerations across damping device families and hazard types, providing practice-ready guidance for tall building vibration control. Identified research gaps include probabilistic and uncertainty-aware design, stroke-constrained optimization, long-term monitoring and digital twin integration, and standardized multi-hazard verification protocols, outlining future directions for resilient and economical vibration mitigation in tall buildings.