Parametric Study into the Effectiveness of Stockbridge Dampers on Structural Cables

MSc Civil Engineering Sarah Elkin Supervised by Dr. Paul Greening UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT

Introduction

The use of cables is becoming increasingly popular in a wide variety of structural applications, including in bridges and roofs, due to their ability to economically and efficiently span large areas as well as for their aesthetic appeal. They are mostly used in large structures such as airports and sports stadia (for example the London 2012 Olympic Stadium has a cable supported fabric roof, see Figure 1), however their use is also becoming an increasingly The aim of this study was to model the effect of popular choice for small-scale structures such as placing a Stockbridge damper on a structural cable using finite element (FE) software. This walkways and building entrances. investigation began by focusing on a case study Cable structures are lightweight which leaves of a cable in an existing structure for which data them susceptible to dynamic effects such as wind was supplied by Buro Happold. The case study or rain excitation. Excessive excitation, was used to calibrate the FE cable model and particularly at a frequency close to a natural provide a realistic scenario on which to base the frequency of a cable, can be problematic. investigation on. The investigation was then Although cable vibrations themselves are not expanded into a parametric study for which normally dangerous, they can drastically reduce general results on the effectiveness of the durability of the cable. Without remedy Stockbridge dampers could be obtained. vibrations in cables can lead to fatigue.

Stockbridge dampers are a cheap and simple solution to damping cable oscillations; their main use is on electrical conductor cables. Cables may vibrate in various ways depending on site conditions such as temperature and wind speed. Stockbridge dampers are particularly successful at damping Aeolian vibration, which is a vertical oscillation of a cable resulting from alternate vortex shedding under laminar (uniform) wind flow.

Figure 1: London 2012 Olympic Stadium (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, 2010).

Stockbridge Dampers
Stockbridge dampers are tuned mass dampers, which balance the vibration of the cable system by a comparatively lightweight component which converts any wind-induced energy into heat (Figure 2). The damping mechanism of Stockbridge dampers is due to inter-strand friction (dry friction) in the damper cable when it undergoes bending. The damper cable is the only flexible member of the damper, and its flexibility increases as it oscillates closer to one of its natural frequencies. This causes slipping between wires which produces inter-strand friction (Verma, 2002). The original, symmetrical, Stockbridge damper consists of two equal weights (or inertial masses) symmetrically attached to each end of a steel damper cable (or messenger cable) which is clamped by its centre to the cable requiring damping. This damper is able to obtain two resonant peaks (one cantilever response mode and one rotational response mode) which can be seen in Figure 3.

Case Study
Data has been provided by Buro Happold for an existing cable in a tension structure. The cable is 30m in length, has a diameter of 80mm and has been pre-stressed to a value of 2.5MN. Data was collected concerning the dynamic behaviour of the cable using accelerometers, which has enabled the natural frequencies of the cable to be calculated (Table 1). Figure 4 shows how the acceleration of vibrations decays over time after an excitation; from this the self-damping of the cable was calculated as 0.8% of critical damping.
Natural Frequency Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5 Mode 6 Mode 7 Est. from Field Data (Hz) 4.2 8.6 13.0 17.4 21.8 26.0 30.2 ABAQUS Model (Hz) 4.2 8.5 12.7 17.1 21.4 25.9 30.5 Percentage Error (%) 0.0 -1.2 -2.3 -2.1 -1.7 -0.4 1.0
Figure 6: Model with Stockbridge damper attached at centre of cable.

FE Modelling
Previous studies into numerically modelling Stockbridge dampers, such as Sauter (2003) and Vecchiarelli, Currie, & Havard (2000), have concentrated on trying to model the behaviour of Stockbridge dampers as accurately as possible. This investigation, however, has focused on only capturing their behaviour using FE programs. Firstly models of the case study cable were developed in both GSA and ABAQUS FE programs. These models compared well with each other, and with the field data supplied for the cable (Table 1). Models for the Stockbridge damper were then built in ABAQUS only (due to the lack of damping elements in GSA). Figure 5 shows a schematic of the damper model used. Damping was inserted into the model by means of springs and dashpots. The dimensions of the damper were calculated by extrapolating damper dimensions from product brochures since the largest dampers commercially available are only suitable for cables with up to a 60mm diameter (as the main use of Stockbridge dampers is on electrical conductor cables). This damper was tuned to the first natural frequency of the case study cable. The effectiveness of the damper was evaluated by subjecting the cabledamper model (Figure 6) to a random loading and analysing the nonlinear dynamic response of the model. This time history analysis data was then signal processed in MATLAB to enable a power spectral density (PSD) plot to be produced. From this the effectiveness of the damper could be judged. Care was taken to ensure that enough data points were collected to ensure against the effects of aliasing.
Damper clamp Main cable

Table 1: Comparison of natural frequencies obtained from case study data and from ABAQUS model.

Response in terms of g (ms-2)

k Inertial mass m c
Time (s)

k m c

Spring element with stiffness k

Damper cable
Figure 5: Damper cable model.

Figure 2: Stockbridge Damper (PLP, 2005)

Figure 3: Two modes of vibration of a symmetrical Stockbridge damper (Havard, 2007).

Figure 4: Free decay response from case study data.

Dashpot element with damping coefficient c

References
Havard, D.G., 2007. Testing Stockbridge Dampers on a Shaker: A Vector Based Analysis and Comment on Present Standards. In: CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems), Minutes of Helsinki Meeting 41. 3 July 2007. [online] Available at: <http://www.aeolus.bz/meeting 41/app11.pdf> [Accessed 25 August 2010] London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, 2010. Olympic Stadium's roof cover is complete. [online] Available at: <http://www.london2012.com/photos/2010/7/ olympic-stadium-s-roof-cover-iscomplete-69590.php> [Accessed 11 August 2010] Performed Line Products (PLP), 2005. VORTX: Vibration Damper for Conductor, Cable, Earth Wires & OPGW. [product brochure] Sauter, D., 2003. Modeling the Dynamic Characteristics of Slack Wire Cables in Stockbridge Dampers. Ph. D. Darmstadt University of Technology. Vecchiarelli, J. Currie, I.G. & Havard, D.G., 2000. Computational Analysis of Aeolian Conductor Vibration with a Stockbridge-type Damper. Journal of Fluids and Structures, 14, pp.489509. Verma, H., 2002. The Stockbridge Damper as a Continuous Hysteric System in Single Overhead Transmission Lines. Master of Technology. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Parametric Investigation
Cables with a range of attributes were studied. The positioning of the damper on the cable was investigated, as well as the amount of pretension force within the cable, and the diameter and length of the cable. The purpose was to gather a global picture of Stockbridge damper behaviour on structural cables in order to supply designers with a guide for their use.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Rasti Bartek and Laurent Giampellegrini from Buro Happold for their help and advice, and for the supply of data for use in this project.

Buro Happold