Seafarers bridge

Design of a new pedestrian bridge across the Yarra River adjacent to the Melbourne Convention Centre gave rise to concerns that footfall disturbance at or close to the natural frequency of the structure could result in high amplitude oscillation on the bridge. To mitigate the possible adverse effects, the acoustic consultants commissioned Embelton to develop a tuned mass damper to counter this oscillation.

Embelton designed, manufactured and delivered onsite the tuned mass damper configured to offset a theoretically calculated natural frequency of 1.4Hz. When construction was completed, the natural frequency of the bridge was found to vary from the theoretically predicted values, requiring Embelton to re-tune the damper to meet the actual oscillating frequency of the bridge.