• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.611-631
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• 2012

The passive energy dissipation technology has been proven to be reliable and robust for recent practical applications. Various dampers or energy dissipation devices have been widely used in building structures for enhancing their performances during earthquakes, windstorm and other severe loading scenarios. This paper presents a simplified seismic design procedure for retrofitting earthquake-damaged frames with viscous dampers. With the scheme of designing the main frame and the supplemental viscous dampers respectively, the seismic analysis model of damped structure with viscous dampers and braces was studied. The specific analysis process was described and approach to parameter design of energy dissipation components was also proposed. The expected damping forces for damped frame were first obtained based on storey shear forces; and then they were optimized to meet different storey drift requirements. A retrofit project of a RC frame school building damaged in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was introduced as a case study. This building was retrofitted by using viscous dampers designed through the simplified design procedure proposed in this paper. Based on the case study, it is concluded that this simplified design procedure can be effectively used to make seismic retrofit design of earthquake-damaged RC frames with viscous dampers, so as to achieve structural performance objectives under different earthquake risk levels.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.463-477
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• 2014

In this paper, seismic performance of Kozyatagi Bridge is evaluated by employing nonlinear elasto-plastic dynamic analysis and the deformation-based performance. The time-history records of the 1999 Izmit, 1971 San Fernando and 1989 Loma Prieta earthquakes are modified by adopting a probability of exceedance of 2% in 50 years corresponding to the return period of 2475 years. The analysis is carried out for three different bearing cases which are movable bearings, restrained bearings, and movable bearings with viscous fluid dampers in the radial direction. The analysis results show that the bridge can be retrofitted with viscous fluid dampers. In this case the reinforced concrete piers need not be strengthened by any jacketing techniques in order to preserve the original architectural appearance of the bridge. The retrofitting design of the bridge with viscous fluid dampers is also presented in detail.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.165-181
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• 2023

The effectiveness of fluid viscous dampers (FVDs) on dynamic response mitigation of coupled two adjacent structures was investigated, considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects under earthquake excitation. A numerical procedure was employed to evaluate system response. The finite elements were used for the numerical treatment of the adjacent buildings and soil region. Viscous boundary conditions were used as special non-reflecting boundaries on the edges of finite soil region. According to the results, the FVDs were found to be very effective for dynamic response mitigation of the adjacent buildings, even if considering the soil medium. The results showed that the most affecting parameter on the system response was found to be soil type. It was also concluded that when adjacent structures coupled by FVDs, the maximum values of the roof displacements, the base shear forces, and the base bending moments could decrease up to around 50%. Changing in lateral stiffness of the one building has minor effects on the effectiveness of viscous dampers.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.417-427
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• 2023

If the center of mass and center of stiffness or strength of a structure plan do not coincide, the structure is considered asymmetric. During an earthquake, in addition to lateral vibration, the structure experiences torsional vibration as well. Lateraltorsional coupling in asymmetric structures in the plan will increase lateral displacement at the ends of the structure plan and, as a result, uneven deformation demand in seismically resistant frames. The demand for displacement in resistant frames depends on the magnitude of transitional displacement to rotational displacement in the plan and the correlation between these two. With regard to the inability to eliminate the asymmetrical condition due to various reasons, such as architectural issues, this study has attempted to use supplemental viscous dampers to decrease the correlation between lateral and torsional acceleration or displacement in the plan. This results in an almost even demand for lateral deformation and acceleration of seismic resistant frames. On this basis, using the concept of Torsional Balance, adequate distribution of viscous dampers for the decrease of this correlation was determined by transferring the "Empirical Center of Balance" (ECB) to the geometrical center of the structure plan and thus obtaining an equal mean square value of displacement and acceleration of the plan edges. This study analyzed stiff and flexible torsional structures with one-way and two-way mass asymmetry in the Opensees software. By implementing the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, the optimum formation of dampers for controlling lateral displacement and acceleration is determined. The results indicate that with the appropriate distribution of viscous dampers, not only does the lateral displacement and acceleration of structure edges decrease but the lateral displacement or acceleration of the structure edges also become equal. It is also observed that the optimized center of viscous dampers for control of displacement and acceleration of structure depends on the amount of mass eccentricity, the ratio of uncoupled torsional-to-lateral frequency, and the amount of supplemental damping ratio. Accordingly, distributions of viscous dampers in the structure plan are presented to control the structure's torsion based on the parameters mentioned.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.541-554
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• 2007

A simplified yet effective design procedure for viscous dampers was presented based on improved capacity spectrum method in the context of performance-based seismic design. The amount of added viscous damping required to meet a given performance objective was evaluated from the difference between the total demand for effective damping and inherent damping plus equivalent damping resulting from hysteretic deformation of system. Application of the method is illustrated by means of two examples, using Chinese design response spectrum and mean response spectrum. Nonlinear dynamic analysis results indicate that the maximum displacements of structures installed with supplemental dampers designed in accordance with the proposed method agree well with the given target displacements. The advantage of the presented procedure over the conventional iterative design method is also highlighted.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1133-1152
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• 2015

A frequency-domain method is developed for evaluating the earthquake input energy to two building structures connected by viscous dampers. It is shown that the earthquake input energies to respective building structures and viscous connecting dampers can be defined as works done by the boundary forces between the subsystems on their corresponding displacements. It is demonstrated that the proposed energy transfer function is very useful for clear understanding of dependence of energy consumption ratios in respective buildings and connecting viscous dampers on their properties. It can be shown that the area of the energy transfer function for the total system is constant regardless of natural period and damping ratio because the constant Fourier amplitude of the input acceleration, relating directly the area of the energy transfer function to the input energy, indicates the Dirac delta function and only an initial velocity (kinetic energy) is given in this case. Owing to the constant area property of the energy transfer functions, the total input energy to the overall system including both buildings and connecting viscous dampers is approximately constant regardless of the quantity of connecting viscous dampers. This property leads to an advantageous feature that, if the energy consumption in the connecting viscous dampers increases, the input energies to the buildings can be reduced drastically. For the worst case analysis, critical excitation problems with respect to the impulse interval for double impulse (simplification of pulse-type impulsive ground motion) and multiple impulses (simplification of long-duration ground motion) are considered and their solutions are provided.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.461-475
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• 2013

A new experimental system of base-isolated structures is proposed. There are two kinds of dampers usually used in the base-isolated buildings, one is a viscous-type damper and the other is an elastic-plastic hysteretic-type damper. The base-isolated structure with a viscous damper and that with an elastic-plastic hysteretic damper are compared in this paper. The viscous damper is modeled by a mini piston and the elastic-plastic hysteretic damper is modeled by a low yield-point steel. The capacity of both dampers is determined so that the dissipated energies are equivalent at a specified deformation. When the capacity of both dampers is determined according to this criterion, it is shown that the response of the base-isolated structure with the elastic-plastic hysteretic damper is larger than that with the viscous damper. This characteristic is demonstrated through the comparison of the bound of the aspect ratio. It is shown that the bound of aspect ratio for the base-isolated structure with the elastic-plastic hysteretic damper is generally smaller than that with the viscous damper. When the base-isolated structure is subjected to long-duration input, the mechanical property of the elastic-plastic hysteretic damper deteriorates and the response of the base-isolated structure including that damper becomes larger than that with the viscous damper. The effect of this change of material properties on the response of the base-isolated structure is also investigated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1171-1186
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• 2014

Damping is one of the parameters that control the performance of structures when they are subjected to seismic, wind, blast or other transient shock and vibration disturbances. By adding supplemental viscous dampers, the energy input from a transient deformation is absorbed, not only by the structure itself, but also by the supplemental dampers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the values of both damping and ductility reduction factors for steel moment resisting frames with supplemental linear viscous dampers. Two-dimensional finite element models have been established for a range of low to mid rise buildings with different parameters: number of floors; number of bays; and number of dampers with different supplemental damping ratios (from 5% to 30%). A parametric study has been performed using time history analyses and a well-documented research method (N2-method). In addition, an equation has been proposed for each reduction factor based on regression analysis for the obtained results. The results of the Time history analyses are compared with those of a modified N2-method. Moreover, a comparison with values specified in the European code EC8 and the Egyptian code ECP-201 has been performed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.437-453
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• 2019

This study investigates a new optimal placement method for viscous dampers between structures in order to prevent pounding of adjacent structures with different dynamic characteristics under earthquake effects. A relative displacement spectrum is developed in two single degree of freedom system to reveal the critical period ratios for the most risky scenario of collision using El Centro earthquake record (NS). Three different types of viscous damper design, which are classical, stair and X-diagonal model, are considered to prevent pounding on two adjacent building models. The objective function is minimized under the upper and lower limits of the damping coefficient of the damper and a target modal damping ratio. A new algorithm including time history analyses and numerical optimization methods is proposed to find the optimal dampers placement. The proposed design method is tested on two 12-storey adjacent building models. The effects of the type of damper placement on structural models, the critical period ratios of adjacent structures, the permissible relative displacement limit, the mode behavior and the upper limit of damper are investigated in detail. The results of the analyzes show that the proposed method can be used as an effective means of finding the optimum amount and location of the dampers and eliminating the risk of pounding.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.153-160
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• 2003

The objective of optimal placement of dampers for a structure is to maximize the effective-ness of the vibration control with the same number of dampers. While many optimal placement methods of linear viscous dampers have been proposed and used, there are only a few methods for MR dampers. Here some optimal location indices for M dampers are proposed, which are similar to those for linear viscous dampers and show how large the structural responses on each floor are. Every time an additional MR damper is implemented, the optimal location index on each floor is measured, and then the next damper is installed on the floor with the maximum location index. In these sequential procedures, the peak interstory drift, the peak interstory velocity and the absolute acceleration of each floor are selected as the optimal location indeices. Four different earthquakes with various scales are loaded to the 20-story nonlinear benchmark building model (Otori et al. 2000, 2002). Passive On/on algorithms are used in order to represent the control algorithm of M dampers.