Design and Experimental Analysis of Additively Manufactured Ortho-Planer-Based Tuned Mass Damper

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are effective devices for increasing structural damping in various applications. This study proposes a new design of TMD using fused deposition modeling (FDM) in additive manufacturing (AM), which favors for customizable parameters such as stiffness and mass with minimal changes during manufacturing. This design approach can reduce the number of components required for manufacturing and assembly. The paper focuses on investigating the damping mechanism and performance of the additive-manufactured TMDs for a low-frequency experimental setup. A simulation approach is developed to predict the effects of the TMD in reducing transient vibration time. Several TMDs with different tuning parameters are fabricated using polyethylene terephthalate glycol with the FDM method. The TMDs are tested on a beam and verified through simulations, and the design is adjusted to suit different conditions. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of using FDM in AM to design TMDs with customizable parameters. The designed TMDs reduce the transient vibration time by 39% along with reduction in part count by around 90%, and the proposed approach can potentially lead to the development of more efficient and cost-effective designs as it reduces the part count to two. This study provides insights into the damping mechanism and performance of additive-manufactured TMDs and presents a solution for improving structural damping in various applications.