Shaking table substructure test of tuned liquid damper for controlling earthquake response of structure

For precisely disclosing the seismic performance of tuned liquid damper (TLD) vibration control structures, the shaking table substructure test (STST) method is presented and experimentally validated, and the parametric effects on the reduction efficiency of TLD are further investigated by using the STST method in this paper. Firstly, one optimal design method of TLD for high‐rise structures is presented. Secondly, the STST based on three variable control method (TVCM) for the TLD vibration control structures is presented. Thirdly, the effectiveness and robustness of the STST for TLD vibration control structures are validated by a series of tests on one three‐story‐frame structure with a rectangular TLD. Finally, the parametric effects on the reduction efficiency of TLD, in terms of mass ratio and liquid depth, are investigated using the STST method. Experimental results show that the displacement and acceleration responses of the STST match well with that of the traditional shaking table tests under El Centro (NS, 1940) and Taft earthquake wave record excitations, which indicates the effectiveness and the robustness of the STST based on TVCM for TLD vibration control structures. It is also shown from the experimental results that the best mass ratio and liquid depth are 4% and 40 mm, respectively, which are consistent with the optimal designs of TLD. Moreover, the control performance of TLD is not only related to its parameters but also related to the spectral characteristics of ground motion excitations.