Performance evaluation and optimization of nontraditional inerter-based tuned mass damper for seismic control of multi-story buildings considering SSI effects

This article presents the optimum design and performance evaluation of a control system that can be an alternative to traditional inerter-based tuned mass damper (TMDI) used in reducing vibrations in a multi-story building under earthquake effects considering soil-structure interaction (SSI). The optimum design of this system, known as NIDVA-C4 in the literature, has been carried out previously considering the randomly excited undamped main system. The key novelty of this work is to demonstrate the applicability of this system to suppress earthquake-induced vibrations in a multi-story building and to deliver more accurate and reliable results by integrating SSI effects into the optimization framework. Due to the difference in location and connection, this system is called N-TMDI in this paper. A case study from the literature featuring a ten-story building is used to implement the design process, assess performance, and conduct comparisons. The optimum parameters of the N-TMDI are obtained using the hybrid PSO-SA algorithm in the frequency domain. Validation using real earthquake records under varying soil conditions confirms the reliability of the proposed optimization framework. The coupled dynamic equations of motion for the structure - N-TMDI, accounting for SSI effects, are formulated and solved in the time domain using the Newmark-β method. An extensive parametric analysis is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the N-TMDI in improving the seismic response of the buildings. The results consistently demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protection strategy across a wide range of parametric configurations, highlighting its potential as a viable seismic mitigation strategy for a multi-story building.