Suppression of resonant vibrations of railway bridges under the passage of high-speed trains using tuned mass dampers

In this thesis, control performance of parallel and series tuned mass dampers are investigated for suppressing resonant vibrations of railway bridges under high-speed trains. Analytical solutions for single and two-span bridges are given. The present thesis consists of mainly three chapters: In the first chapter, the related literature on the topic is shortly presented, and then the detailed information about tuned mass dampers and their mathematical theory are given. In addition, the formulation for analytical solutions for single and two-span bridges under moving train loads is given. In the second chapter, dynamic behavior of single and two-span bridges under high-speed trains is first investigated. Then, parallel and series multiple tuned mass dampers are applied for vibration control of bridges. fmincon, MATLAB toolbox, is explained for optimum design of tuned mass dampers, and some examples are given. In addition, a novel and simple method for optimum design of parallel multiple tuned mass dampers is presented, and verified with using available solutions. In the third chapter, the results obtained from the studies and some recommendations on the future studies are presented. As a result of the study, it is demonstrated that series multiple tuned mass tuned mass dampers can be effectively used in vibration control of high-speed bridges. Furthermore, the new method proposed for optimum design of parallel multiple tuned mass dampers gives good results, and can be used for design of such type control devices in short and medium span railway bridges.