Effect of structural uncertainty on seismic response of steel moment-resisting frames equipped with tuned mass dampers

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) can be used to absorb the input energy of the applied loads, and reduce the response of building frames. However, inherited uncertainties in structural characteristics of building frames can significantly affect their response and counteract the effectiveness of vibration absorbing devices such as TMDs. In this study, by calculating cumulative damage indices for stories of the structure, failure probability of two steel moment-resisting frames equipped with TMDs has been studied in presence of uncertainty in characteristics of the structure. Cumulative inelastic deformation of structural elements in each story has been used to calculate the damage representative of that story, based on weighted average approach. Even though the cumulative response of the deterministic model of the structures is reduced by installing TMDs, the results of the numerical simulations on the probabilistic response of the sample structures indicate that for the records that cause excessive damage in the lower stories of the structures, the effect of TMDs on failure probability of the structure can be detrimental.