Probabilistic distribution of displacement response of frictionally damped structures excited by seismic loads

Accurate peak response estimation of a seismically excited structure with frictional damping system (FDS) is very difficult since the structure with FDS shows nonlinear behavior dependent on the structural period, loading characteristics, and relative magnitude between the frictional force and the excitation load. Previous studies have estimated the peak response of the structure with FDS by replacing a nonlinear system with an equivalent linear one or by employing the response spectrum obtained based on nonlinear time history and statistical analysis. In case that earthquake excitation is defined probabilistically, corresponding response of the structure with FDS becomes to have probabilistic distribution. In this study, nonlinear time history analyses were performed for the structure with FDS subjected to artificial earthquake excitation generated using Kanai-Tajimi filter. An equation for the probability density function (PDF) of the displacement response is proposed by adapting the PDF of the normal distribution. Coefficients of the proposed PDF are obtained by regression of the statistical distribution of the time history responses. Finally, the correlation between the resulting PDFs and statistical response distribution is investigated.