New passive control strategy for seismic upgrade of essential buildings: base isolation and tuned mass damping

A new passive control strategy, which combines base isolation and tuned mass damping to retrofit essential buildings, is herein discussed. In particular, the hypothesis of application of this strategy on Villa d’Agri’s Hospital (PZ) is presented. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been evaluated in comparing linear and non linear seismic response of the isolated system, with and without TMD, to recorded accelerograms. The BI&TMD combined control strategy reduces displacements at the base without affecting the beneficial effects of isolation on the superstructure seismic response. Numerical results show higher control strategy effectiveness in the case of seismic excitations with high energy content in a low frequency range.

Available in Italian only

Bruno Palazzo, Luigi Petti, Salvatore Sguazzo