Multiple wall dampers for multi-mode vibration control of building structures under earthquake excitation

One of the main concerns of civil engineering researchers is developing or modifying an energy dissipation system that can effectively control structural vibrations, and keep the structural response within tolerable limits during unpredictable events like earthquakes, wind and any kind of thrust load. This article proposes a new type of mass damper system for controlling wideband earthquake vibrations, called Multiple Wall Dampers (MWD). The basic principle of the Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) was used to design the proposed wall damper system. This passive energy dissipation system does not require additional mass for the damping system because the boundary wall mass of the building was used as a damper mass. The multi-mode approach was applied to determine the location and design parameters of the dampers. The dampers were installed based on the maximum amplitude of modes. To optimize the damper parameters, the multi-objective optimization Response Surface Methodology was used, with frequency response and maximum displacement as the objective functions. The obtained structural responses under different earthquake forces demonstrated that the MWD is one of the most capable tools for reducing the responses of multi-storied buildings, and this system can be practically used for new and existing building structures.