Abstract
In the case where a MR-damper is employed for vibration control, it is important to decide on how much control capacity should be assigned to it against structural capacities (strength and load, etc). This paper aims to present a MR-damper's control capacity suitable for the capacities of the structure which needs to be controlled. First, a two span bridge was built equipped with a MR-damper, which constitutes a two-span MR-damper control system. Then, inflicting an earthquake load on the system, a basic experiment was performed for vibration control, and a simulation was also carried out reflecting specific control conditions such as MR-damper and rubber bearing. The comparison of the results against each other proved their validity. Then, in order to calculate an optimal control capacity of the MR-damper, structural capacity was divided into eleven cases in total and simulated. For each case, an additional load of 30 KN was inflicted everytime, thereby increasingly strengthening structural capacity. As a result of the study, it was found that the control capacity of MR-damper of 30 KN was safely secured only with lumped mass of more than 150 KN(case 6). Therefore, it is concluded the MR-damper showed the best performance of control when it exerted its capacity at around 20% of structural capacity.
