Seismic and Wind Response Control of Cantilevered Highway Sign Support Using a TMD

This work contributes to a better understanding of the seismic and wind response of cantilevered sign support structures used in highways. For such, the present paper provides a comparative study of the seismic and wind response of a cantilevered sign support (with and without a TMD). The current work begins with a short summary of different methodologies to assess seismic input on structures. Some guidelines on the considered procedure for the selection of appropriate suites of accelerograms complying with Eurocode 8–1 prescription for Portugal (Faro) are presented. Complementarily, also is presented a method for generating natural wind histories to be used at the in-service behavior range. To mitigate dynamic effects, the sign support structure is equipped with a TMD with proven efficiency and ease of application and modelling. The structure displays for the out-of-plane direction a significant reduction in terms of displacements and accelerations after the implementation of the TMD for both the seismic and wind cases.