• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2007

In this study a stochastic approach for linear viscous dampers design adopted for seismic protection of buildings is developed. Devices optimal placement into the main structure and their mechanical parameters are attained by means of a reliability-based optimum design criterion, in which an objective function (O.F.) is minimized, subject to a stochastic constraint. The seismic input is modelled by a non stationary modulated Kanai Tajimi filtered stochastic process. Building is represented by means of a plane shear type frame model. The selected criterion for the optimization searches the minimum of the O.F., here assumed to be the cost of the seismic protection, i.e., assumed proportional to the sum of added dampings of each device. The stochastic constraint limits a suitable approximated measure of the structure failure probability, here associated to the maximum interstorey drift crossing over a given threshold limit, related, according with modern Technical Codes, to the required damage control.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.225-238
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• 2021

Supplemental passive dampers are widely employed to improve the structural performance of buildings under seismic excitations. Nevertheless, the added damping could be counter-productive if the axial forces induced by the damper reaction forces are not routed properly in the columns. A few researchers engaged to optimize the width-wise damper arrangement to improve the delivered path of the axial column forces. However, most of these studies are limited under the design-based seismic level and few of them has evaluated the collapse performance of buildings under strong earthquakes. In this paper, the strategic width-wise placement method of viscous dampers is explored regarding the building performance under collapse state. Two realistic steel buildings with different storeys are modelled and compared to explore higher mode effects. Each building is designed with four different damper arrangement scenarios based on a classic damper distribution method. Both a far-fault and a near-fault seismic environment are considered for the buildings. Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is performed to evaluate the probability of collapse and the plastic mechanism of the retrofitted steel buildings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.215-227
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• 2018

Supplemental passive control devices are widely considered as an important tool to mitigate the dynamic response of a building under seismic excitation. Nevertheless, a systematic method for strategically placing dampers in the buildings is not prescribed in building codes and guidelines. Many deterministic and stochastic methods have been proposed by previous researchers to investigate the optimum distribution of the viscous dampers in the steel frames. However, the seismic performances of the retrofitted buildings that are under large earthquake intensity levels or near collapse state have not been evaluated by any seismic research. Recent years, an increasing number of studies utilize genetic algorithms (GA) to explore the complex engineering optimization problems. GA interfaced with nonlinear response history (NRH) analysis is considered as one of the most powerful and popular stochastic methods to deal with the nonlinear optimization problem of damper distribution. In this paper, the effectiveness and the efficiency of GA on optimizing damper distribution are first evaluated by strong ground motions associated with the collapse failure. A practical optimization framework using GA and NRH analysis is proposed for optimizing the distribution of the fluid viscous dampers within the moment resisting frames (MRF) regarding the improvements of large drifts under intensive seismic context. Both a 10-storey and a 20-storey building are involved to explore higher mode effect. A far-fault and a near-fault earthquake environment are also considered for the frames under different seismic intensity levels. To evaluate the improvements obtained from the GA optimization regarding the collapse performance of the buildings, Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is conducted and comparisons are made between the GA damper distribution and stiffness proportional damping distribution on the collapse probability of the retrofitted frames.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.215-226
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• 2020

A self-centering wall (SCW) is a lateral resistant rocking system that incorporates posttensioned (PT) tendons to provide a self-centering capacity along with dampers to dissipate energy. This paper investigates the rocking responses of a SCW with base viscous dampers under a sinusoidal-type pulse considering yielding and fracture behaviour of the PT tendon. The differences in the overturning acceleration caused by different initial forces in the PT tendon are computed by the theoretical method. The exact analytical solution to the linear approximate equation of motion is also provided for slender SCWs. Finally, the effects of the ductile behaviour of PT tendons on the rocking response of a SCW are analysed. The results demonstrate that SCWs exhibit two overturning modes under pulse excitation. The overturning region with Mode 1 in the PT force cases separates the safe region of the wall into two parts: region S1 with an elastic tendon and region S2 with a fractured tendon. The minimum overturning acceleration of a SCW with an elastic-brittle tendon becomes insensitive to excitation frequency as the PT force increases. After the plastic behaviour of the PT tendon is considered, the minimum overturning acceleration of a SCW is increased significantly in the whole range of the studied w_g/p.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.1168-1175
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• 2010

Excessive torsional vibrations from marine engine shafting systems can be reduced by using torsional vibration dampers. But in order to be tuned effectively, the dampers should be designed through the optimum design procedure. In this paper, the procedure to get the optimum values of system parameters of spring-viscous dampers using effective modal mass of inertia and stiffness is suggested and the damping is determined by the exact algebra optimization method. The validity of the suggested method is confirmed through the application to a 1800 kW four cycle diesel engine and generator system.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.575-589
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• 2020

For vibration control of stay cables in cable-stayed bridges, viscous dampers are frequently used, and they are regularly installed between the cable and the bridge deck. In practice, neoprene rubber bushings (or of other types) are also widely installed inside the cable guide pipe, mainly for reducing the bending stresses of the cable near its anchorages. Therefore, it is important to understand the effect of the bushings on the performance of the external damper. Besides, for long cables, external dampers installed at a single position near a cable end can no longer provide enough damping due to the sag effect and the limited installation distance. It is thus of interest to improve cable damping by additionally installing dampers inside the guide pipe. This paper hence studies the combined effects of an external damper and an internal damper (which can also model the bushings) on a stay cable. The internal damper is assumed to be a High Damping Rubber (HDR) damper, and the external damper is considered to be a viscous damper with intrinsic stiffness, and the cable sag is also considered. Both the cases when the two dampers are installed close to one cable end and respectively close to the two cable ends are studied. Asymptotic design formulas are derived for both cases considering that the dampers are close to the cable ends. It is shown that when the two dampers are placed close to different cable ends, their combined damping effects are approximately the sum of their separate contributions, regardless of small cable sag and damper intrinsic stiffness. When the two dampers are installed close to the same end, maximum damping that can be achieved by the external damper is generally degraded, regardless of properties of the HDR damper. Field tests on an existing cable-stayed bridge have further validated the influence of the internal damper on the performance of the external damper. The results suggest that the HDR is optimally placed in the guide pipe of the cable-pylon anchorage when installing viscous dampers at one position is insufficient. When an HDR damper or the bushing has to be installed near the external damper, their combined damping effects need to be evaluated using the presented methods.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.307-326
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• 2010

This paper is concerned with the optimal seismic design of added viscous dampers in yielding plane frames. The total added damping is minimized for allowable values of local performance indices under the excitation of an ensemble of ground motions in both regular and irregular structures. The local performance indices are taken as the maximal inter-story drift of each story and/or the normalized hysteretic energy dissipated at each of the plastic hinges. Gradients of the constraints with respect to the design variables (damping coefficients) are derived, via optimal control theory, to enable an efficient first order optimization scheme to be used for the solution of the problem. An example of a ten story three bay frame is presented. This example reveals the following 'fully stressed characteristics' of the optimal solution: damping is assigned only to stories for which the local performance index has reached the allowable value. This may enable the application of efficient and practical analysis/redesign type methods for the optimal design of viscous dampers in yielding plane frames.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2019

Over the past decades, a great variety of dampers have been developed and applied to mechanical, aerospace, and civil structures to control structural vibrations. This study is focused on two emerging damper types, namely, eddy current dampers (ECDs) and electromagnetic damper (EMDs), both of which are regarded as promising alternatives to commonly-applied viscous fluid dampers (VFDs) because of their similar mechanical behavior. This study aims to enhance the damping densities of ECDs and EMDs, which are typically lower than those of VFDs, by proposing new designs with multiple improvement measures. The design configurations, mechanisms, and experimental results of the new ECDs and EMDs are presented in this paper. The further comparison based on the experimental results revealed that the damping densities of the proposed ECD and EMD designs are comparable to those of market-available VFDs. Considering ECDs and EMDs are solid-state dampers without fluid leakage problems, the results obtained in this study demonstrate a great prospect of replacing conventional VFDs with the improved ECDs and EMDs in future large-scale applications.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.517-524
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• 2010

In this paper the progressive collapse resisting capacity of steel moment frames with viscous dampers was evaluated by nonlinear dynamic analysis. The effects of dampers installed in steel beam-column sub-assemblages with varying natural period and yield strength were evaluated after sudden removal of a column. According to the parametric study the vertical displacement general decreased as the damping ratio of the system increased, and the dampers were effective both in elastic and elasto-plastic systems. The nonlinear dynamic analysis results of the 15-story analysis models showed that the decrease in vertical deflection of the structure with 9m span length, which showed larger deflection, was more predominant than that of the structure with 6m span length.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2020

The present study is aimed to calculate the optimal damping according to the seismic load on the structure with a non-seismic design to perform structure analysis considering the deformation of structural joint connection and panel zone; to develop design program equipped with structural stability of the steel frame structures reinforced with the panel zone and viscous dampers, using the results of the analysis, in order to systematically integrate the seismic reinforcement of the non-seismic structures and the analysis and design of steel frame structures. The study results are as follows: When considering the deformation of the panel zone, the deformation has been reduced up to thickness of the panel double plate below twice the flange thickness, which indicates the effect of the double plate thickness on the panel zone, but the deformation showed uniform convergence when the ration is more than twice. The SMRPF system that was applied to this study determines the damping force and displacement by considering the panel zone to the joint connection and calculating the shear each floor for the seismic load at the same time. The result indicates that the competence of the damper is predictable that can secure seismic performance for the structures with non-seismic design without changing the cross-section of the members.