Numerical research on nonlinear liquid sloshing and vibration control performance of tuned liquid damper

A high-level fire water tank typically situated atop high-rise building is adapted into a Tuned Liquid Damper (TLD) to mitigate wind-induced vibration of the building structure, thereby enhancing occupant comfort. This research focuses on investigating the nonlinear liquid sloshing characteristics of TLD using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method. Emphasis is placed on establishing a numerical model to analyze the coupling process between the TLD and the high-rise building. Factors such as liquid depth and excitation amplitude are explored to assess the effects on the nonlinear liquid sloshing characteristics. Furthermore, a two-way coupling numerical model for the structure-TLD system is proposed, based on secondary development of OpenFOAM. The coupling numerical model realizes the interaction between structural vibration and liquid sloshing of TLD, while effectively reducing computational resource requirements and computation time. Utilizing shaking table experimental results, the nonlinear liquid sloshing characteristics and structural vibration response are compared, validating the accuracy of the numerical model. Through varying the mass ratio and tuning ratio, this study further analyzes the effectiveness of TLD in mitigating wind-induced vibration response of a full-scale high-rise building. The two-way coupling numerical model aims to reveal the nonlinear liquid sloshing characteristics and vibration control performance of TLD. This research offers engineers an accurate, cost-effective, and efficient method for detailed TLD design and evaluation.