Development of a Fluid-Particle Vibration Damper with Optimized Damping Properties

Short title: FluPS

Funding reference number: 03THW03L02

Project period: Jan 2020 – Jun 2022

Project budget: 120.000 €

Research focus:

Focus 2 (since 02/2024): Sustainable Objects, Urban Structures, Materials and Processes
Focus 2 (until 01/2024): New Materials and Processes

Structural unit:

Faculty of Engineering

Project management:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kersten Latz

Project supporter:

Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (FZ Jülich)

Funding:

Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)

Experimental set-up for the swing-out test of the fluid-particle vibration absorber.
Source: Wismar University of Applied Sciences

The project is aimed at developing a fluid-particle vibration damper with optimized damping properties for slender, tower-like structures such as wind turbines, bell towers and high-rise buildings.

The aim of the project is to develop a new type of vibration damper that can be used to significantly improve the dynamic behaviour of slender, tower-like structures with comparatively little effort. Wismar University of Applied Sciences has applied for a patent for this fluid-particle vibration damper. The idea on which this patent is based is to be further developed into a product so that the marketing opportunities increase significantly and the university can assert its exploitation rights.

The focus of the further development of the slosh absorber is the precise adjustability of the degree of damping and the avoidance of non-linear behaviour due to breaking waves. The solution consists of floating pellets on the surface of the fluid, which extract energy from the system through friction. The optimal degree of damping can be precisely configured via the quantity and size of the pellets. The linear movement of the fluid is forced by an additional light, buoyant plate above the pellets. Higher sloshing eigenmodes of the fluids can thus be suppressed.