title: Damping Estimation from Free Decay Responses of Cables with MR Dampers.
abstract: This paper discusses the damping measurements on cables with real-time controlled MR dampers that were performed on a laboratory scale single strand cable and on cables of the Sutong Bridge, China. The control approach aims at producing amplitude and frequency independent cable damping which is confirmed by the tests. The experimentally obtained cable damping in comparison to the theoretical value due to optimal linear viscous damping reveals that support conditions of the cable anchors, force tracking errors in the actual MR damper force, energy spillover to higher modes, and excitation and sensor cables hanging on the stay cable must be taken into consideration for the interpretation of the identified cable damping values.
authors.affiliation: Structural Engineering Research Laboratory, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Maurer Söhne GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurter Ring 193, 80807 München, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Distl