Largeamplitudevibrationofmastarmstructuresduetowindloadsaretheprimarycontributingfactortothereducedfatiguelifeofsignalsupportstructures.Toalleviatethisproblemofwind-inducedin-planevibrationofmastarmsignalstructures,aparticle-thrustdampingbasedturnedmassdamper(PTD-TMD)deviceisadoptedanditsdampingeffectischaracterizedexperimentally.Theparticle-thrustdampingisapassivedampingdevicethatdoesnotrequireelectricpowerandistemperatureindependent.Basedonthecalibrationtest,anequivalentdynamicmodelofthePTD-TMDdeviceisdevelopedandusedfornumericalsimulationstudy.ThedampingeffectsofthisPTD-TMDdeviceonsignalsupportstructureswasinvestigatedthroughbothnumericalanalysisandlaboratorytestingofa50-ft(15.24m)mastarmstructureincludingbothfreevibrationandforcedvibrationtests.TheexperimentaltestandnumericalstudyresultsshowthatvibrationresponsebehaviorofmastarmsignalsupportstructurescanbesignificantlyreducedbyinstallingthePTD-TMDthatcanincreasethecriticaldampingratioofthemastarmsignalstructuresto4%.Thestressrangeattheweldedconnectionbetweenthemastarmandtrafficpoleisalsoreduced.
