An overview on some ongoing computational and experimental campaigns on vibration control by liquid tanks

The purpose of this work is to deepen some of the features related to the application of Liquid Dampers for vibration control of engineering structures. To this aim, both theoretical, numerical and experimental questions are dealt with, finally giving an overview of in progress studies by the authors in the specific research field. In details, some methodologies applied for analysis of the seismic behaviour of existing bottom supported storage tanks, under predominantly horizontal seismic actions are presented. Actually the full understanding of the device behaviour and fluid-container interactions is necessary for reliably analyzing and designing control devices based on liquid dissipation. Moreover the paper reports some results obtained by means of an experimental investigation developed on rigid blocks moving on a foundation base subjected to a horizontal forcing function and equipped with some rudimental Sloshing Water devices. Experimental data derived by means of a shaking table facility are devoted to compare the dynamic response of the blocks equipped or not with the devices for various liquid levels of the tanks, in order to produce a first check of the possible effectiveness of such devices on rigid structural models exhibiting a non-linear behaviour under dynamic shaking.