Engineering

Spring-mass-damper systems can be found in many mechanical systems. One common example is the suspension of a car. The car itself is the mass; it is suspended by an elastic spring. A damper (the actual shock absorber) prevents oscillations. Tuned mass damper (TMD) is a vibrating mass that moves out of phase with the perturbing force inducing vibration in the structure the TMD is installed on. With its out of phase motion, the inertial force of the TMD mass abates the resonant vibration of the structure by dissipating its energy.