Magnetic active mass damper, design and assessment

This research introduces a novel active mass damper (AMD) that operates based on magnetic force. The proposed AMD utilizes magnetic force to control the damper’s and reduces the structural vibrations by the reaction force exerted by the mass onto the system. The utilization of magnetic force increases the performance of the AMD. The magnitude of the control force is determined by employing PID control based on the measured acceleration response of the structure on which the AMD is mounted. An experimental study is conducted to assess and evaluate the performance of the AMD. The study utilizes an experimental three-story shear frame as the testing platform, with the AMD mounted on the structure. The AMD’s mass is chosen to be approximately 3% of the total structural mass. A comparison of the obtained structural responses to those of the structure fitted with a passive mass damper shows the promising efficacy of the proposed AMD in reducing the structural responses across a broad frequency range. The results obtained from both experimental tests and analytical analyses provide confirmation of the effectiveness of the AMD within the range of the structure’s primary modes. The most significant points of the presented device are having a high performance in reducing vibration despite the small weight and efficiency in a wide frequency range by using magnetic force.