Vibration Control of Offshore Platforms Using a Wideband METMD System

A wideband multiple extended tuned mass dampers (METMD) system has been developed for reducing the multiple resonant responses of the platforms to all kinds of loads, such as earthquake, typhoon, tsunami and big ice load. This system is composed of several subsystems, each of which consists of one set of extended tuned mass damper (ETMD) unit covering a specific frequency bandwidth, and its average frequency is tuned to one of the first resonant frequencies of the platform. The offshore platform is simplified to a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) system to which a METMD subsystem (composed of m ETMDs) is attached and constitutes m+1 DOFs system. The total mass ratio of the METMD subsystem to the platform is 14% and the frequency ratio of the exciting frequency to the platform’s natural frequency varies in [0.5, 1.5]. The theory analysis shows that: 1) the platform has the better vibration control effect when the non-dimensional frequency bandwidth Ω, which is defined as the ratio of the frequency range to the controlled (target) platforms natural frequency, is in [0.35, 0.6]; 2) the damping coefficient ξ of ETMD systems is in [0.05, 0.15] and 3) the number of the ETMDs is 5 when Ω = 0.45 and ξ = 0.1. The FEM simulation shows that the METMD has a better vibration control effect on the mega-platforms’ vibration control under the random ocean wave load.