Choice between series and parallel connections of hysteretic system and viscous damper for seismic protection of structures

Supplemental viscous damping devices are generally envisioned to be connected in parallel to the inelastic parent structure or hysteretic damping devices. This gives rise to higher base shear, and often greater ductility demand of the hysteretic system. The series connection of the viscous and hysteretic system (the inelastic structure or a damper) is an alternative approach. In this paper, comparisons between the series and parallel connections of the hysteretic system and viscous dampers are done through response spectra analyses of single degree of freedom structures. Ductility demand of the hysteretic system and the total base shear are chosen as the response quantities. For the series model, a semi‐implicit solution scheme for classical Maxwell model is modified to include the inelasticity of the time‐independent hysteretic spring. It is observed that the series connection of the 2 dampers gives lower base shear than does the parallel connection. For long‐period and low‐damping structures, the ductility demand of the hysteretic system in series connection is higher than that in parallel connection. Increasing the viscous damping in series connection reduces the ductility demand substantially, lower than that obtained in parallel connection. Practical methods for implementing the series and parallel connections, in line with roof isolation, are also suggested.     

Effect of viscous damping devices on the response of seismically isolated structures

Viscous and other damping devices are often used as elements of seismic isolation systems. Despite the widespread application of nonlinear viscous systems particularly in Japan (with fewer applications in the USA and Taiwan), the application of viscous damping devices in isolation systems in the USA progressed intentionally toward the use of supplementary linear viscous devices due to the advantages offered by these devices. This paper presents experimental results on the behavior of seismically isolated structures with low damping elastomeric (LDE) and single friction pendulum (SFP) bearings with and without linear and nonlinear viscous dampers. The isolation systems are tested within a six‐story structure configured as moment frame and then again as braced frame. Emphasis is placed both on the acquisition of data related to the structural system (drifts, story shear forces, and isolator displacements) and on non‐structural systems (floor accelerations, floor spectral accelerations, and floor velocities). Moreover, the accuracy of analytical prediction of response is investigated based on the results of a total of 227 experiments, using 14 historic ground motions of far‐fault and near‐fault characteristics, on flexible moment frame and stiff braced frame structures isolated with LDE or SFP bearings and linear or nonlinear viscous dampers. It is concluded that when damping is needed to reduce displacement demands in the isolation system, linear viscous damping results in the least detrimental effect on the isolated structure. Moreover, the study concludes that the analytical prediction of peak floor accelerations and floor response spectra may contain errors that need to be considered when designing secondary systems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The pseudo‐viscous frictional energy dissipator: a new device for mitigating seismic effects

Viscous energy dissipators (EDORs) have good suppressing effects on acceleration or base shear and they do not add axial pressure to the column when peak moment in the column occurs at peak displacement. Pall frictional EDORs can dissipate energy even when the compression brace buckles due to a special frictional damping mechanism. Retaining the advantages of viscous and Pall EDORs and overcoming their disadvantages, a pseudo‐viscous frictional energy dissipator (PVEDOR) is developed. PVEDORs use the frictional damping mechanism of Pall EDORs, but the slip force of PVEDORs is made variable so that the slip force reduces with increasing displacement. Behaviour testing of PVEDORs shows that they possess the important hysteretic feature of viscous EDORs, i.e. the restoring force of PVEDORs are out‐of‐phase with displacement. Earthquake simulation tests of a 16‐storey frame structure incorporating PVEDORs and ordinary steel braces and bare frame are carried out. The test results show that PVEDORs have good vibration‐suppressing effects. An analytical hysteretic model of PVEDORs basically agrees with the behaviour testing results. Finally, the parameter influence of PVEDORs on suppressive effectiveness of structural vibration under earthquake conditions is studied. Numerical analyses show that PVEDORs have good control effects on both seismic displacement and acceleration, and that control effects of PVEDORs on base shear are much better than Coulomb‐type frictional EDORs or metallic EDORs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stiffness‐damping simultaneous identification using limited earthquake records

A new method of stiffness‐damping simultaneous identification of building structures is proposed using limited earthquake records. It is shown that when horizontal accelerations are recorded at the floors just above and below a specific storey in a shear building model, the storey stiffness and the damping ratio can be identified uniquely. The viscous damping coefficient and the linear hysteretic damping ratio can also be identified simultaneously in a numerical model structure. The accuracy of the present identification method is investigated through the actual limited earthquake records in a base‐isolated building. It is further shown that an advanced identification technique for mechanical properties of a Maxwell‐type model can be developed by combining the present method with a perturbation technique. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The inelastic vibration absorber subjected to earthquake ground motions

Two storey bilinear hysteretic structures have been studied with a view to exploring the possibility of using the dynamic vibration absorber concept in earthquake-resistant design. The response of the lower storey has been optimized for the Taft 1952, S69°E accelerogram with reference to parameters such as frequency ratio, yield strength ratio and mass ratio. The influence of viscous damping has also been examined.     

Equivalent viscous damping for steel concentrically braced frame structures

The direct displacement based seismic design procedure utilises equivalent viscous damping expressions to represent the effect of energy dissipation of a structural system. Various expressions for the equivalent viscous damping of different structural systems are available in the literature, but the structural systems examined in the past have not included concentrically braced frame structures. Thus, this study describes the development of an equivalent viscous damping equation for concentrically braced frame structures based on the hysteretic response of 15 different single storey models. Initially, equivalent viscous damping is calculated based on the area based approach and then corrected for the earthquake excitation. An iterative procedure is adopted to calibrate the equivalent viscous damping expression to the results of inelastic time history analyses using a number of spectrum-compatible real accelerograms. From the results of this research, a new damping expression is developed as a function of the ductility and the non dimensional slenderness ratio.     

Tuned inerter dampers with linear hysteretic damping

This paper explores the influence of linear hysteretic damping on the performance of passive tuned-inerter devices. An inerter is a device that produces a force proportional to the relative acceleration across its two terminals; devices incorporating inerters have received widespread attention in the earthquake engineering community, because they offer the ability to improve the seismic response of structures. However, the majority of this research has assumed that the damping components within the tuned-inerter device exhibit viscous, rather than hysteretic, damping. This restriction imposes an essential question on how the hysteretic damping model will change the performance of the device compared with the viscous damping model. It is shown that the response of viscous and hysteretic inerter systems have significant differences in displacement amplitude due to the frequency dependency of the damping. Therefore, a new formulation for obtaining the optimum loss factor of the hysteretic damping in the inerter system is proposed. Next, the challenges associated with accurately predicting the time-response of a hysteretically damped system are discussed. A numerical time-integration method is extended to address these challenges, using a new formulation that has the benefit of being broadly applicable to multidegree-of-freedom hysteretic linear systems and nonstationary random signals. The results show that the earthquake responses from the hysteretic damping model can differ significantly from the ones obtained via the viscous model.     

Direct estimation of seismic response in reduced-degree-of-freedom isolation and energy dissipation systems

A methodology for the development of design tools for direct estimation of peak inelastic response in reduced-degree-of-freedom (RDOF) isolation and energy dissipation systems is presented. The suggested procedure is an extension of an earlier method addressing purely hysteretic isolation systems. Herein, the dynamic equation of motion is first normalised to reduce the number of design parameters that significantly affect the response. The sensitivity of normalised response quantities to the amplitude of the ground motion is then investigated through extensive parametric nonlinear dynamic analyses of isolated single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems with linear viscous damping using code-based target spectra. Regression analysis is subsequently employed to develop generalised design equations (GDEs) suitable for design. Further investigations are made to address nonlinear viscous damping and the effect of the transverse component of seismic action in two-degree-of freedom (2DOF) systems under bidirectional excitation, making the procedure applicable to common bridge isolation schemes. GDEs constitute an alternative to equivalent linearisation approaches commonly adopted by codes, informing the selection among alternative isolation and energy dissipations schemes without requiring iterative analysis. The approach is incorporated in the Deformation-Based Design methodology for seismically isolated bridges in a forthcoming paper.     

Development of deformable connection for earthquake‐resistant buildings to reduce floor accelerations and force responses

This paper presents the development of a deformable connection that is used to connect each floor system of the flexible gravity load resisting system (GLRS) with the stiff lateral force resisting system (LFRS) of an earthquake‐resistant building. It is shown that the deformable connection acts as a seismic response modification device, which limits the lateral forces transferred from each floor to the LFRS and allows relative motion between the GLRS and LFRS. In addition, the floor accelerations and the LFRS story shears related to the higher‐mode responses are reduced. The dispersion of peak responses is also significantly reduced. Numerical simulations of the earthquake response of a 12‐story reinforced concrete shear wall example building with deformable connections are used to define an approximate feasible design space for the deformable connection. The responses of the example building model with deformable connections and the example building model with rigid‐elastic connections are compared. Two configurations of the deformable connection are studied. In one configuration, a buckling restrained brace is used as the limited‐strength load‐carrying hysteretic component of the deformable connection, and in the other configuration, a friction device is used. Low damping laminated rubber bearings are used in both configurations to ensure the out‐of‐plane stability of the LFRS and to provide post‐elastic stiffness to the deformable connection. Important experimental results from full‐scale tests of the deformable connections are presented and used to calibrate numerical models of the connections. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of coulomb damping on multidegree of freedom elastic structures

This paper is based on the premise that the damping mechanism of a multidegree of freedom structure can be represented by viscous and coulomb dampers. A closed form solution for the structure subjected to a sinusoidal forcing function is presented. The solution is used as the basis of a method for determining relative amounts of viscous and coulomb damping from vibration tests. The method was applied to the results of a series of vibration tests on a five storey reinforced concrete structure and approximate values of viscous and coulomb damping obtained. A comparison of the effect of various combined damping values on the earthquake response of the structure was made. It was concluded that the use of the equivalent viscous damping concept to approximate the combined effect of viscous and coulomb damping results in a low estimate of the elastic response of the structure.     

Midbroken reinforced concrete shear frames due to earthquakes. A hysteretic model to quantify damage at the storey level

A nonlinear hysteretic model for the response and local damage analyses of reinforced concrete shear frames subject to earthquake excitation is proposed, and, the model is applied to analyse midbroken reinforced concrete (RC) structures due to earthquake loads. Each storey of the shear frame is represented by a Clough and Johnston hysteretic oscillator with degrading elastic fraction of the restoring force. The local damage is numerically quantified in the domain [0,1] using the maximum softening damage indicators which are defined in closed form based on the variation of the eigenfrequency of the local oscillators due to the local stiffness and strength deterioration. The proposed method of response and damage analyses is illustrated using a sample 5 storey shear frame with a weak third storey in stiffness and/or strength subject to sinusoidal and simulated earthquake excitations for which the horizontal component of the ground motion is modeled as a stationary Gaussian stochastic process with Kanai-Tajimi spectrum, multiplied by an envelope function.     

Validation of nonlinear time history analysis models for single‐storey concentrically braced frames using full‐scale shake table tests

The concentrically braced frame (CBF) structure is one of the most efficient steel structural systems to resist earthquakes. This system can dissipate energy during earthquakes through braces, which are expected to yield in tension and buckle in compression, while all other elements such as columns, beams and connections are expected to behave elastically. In this paper, the performance of single‐storey CBFs is assessed with nonlinear time‐history analysis, where a robust numerical model that simulates the behaviour of shake table tests is developed. The numerical model of the brace element used in the analysis was calibrated using data measured in physical tests on brace members subjected to cyclic loading. The model is then validated by comparing predictions from nonlinear time‐history analysis to measured performance of brace members in full scale shake table tests. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the performance of the CBF to different earthquake ground motions is investigated by subjecting the CBF to eight ground motions that have been scaled to have similar displacement response spectra. The comparative assessments presented in this work indicate that these developed numerical models can accurately capture the salient features related to the seismic behaviour of CBFs. A good agreement is found between the performance of the numerical and physical models in terms of maximum displacement, base shear force, energy dissipated and the equivalent viscous damping. The energy dissipated and, more particular, the equivalent viscous damping, are important parameters required when developing an accurate displacement‐based design methodology for CBFs subjected to earthquake loading. In this study, a relatively good prediction of the equivalent viscous damping is obtained from the numerical model when compared with data measured during the shake table tests. However, it was found that already established equations to determine the equivalent viscous damping of CBFs may give closer values to those obtained from the physical tests. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器及其性能试验与分析

本文结合压电驱动器和T型摩擦阻尼器的特点，提出了压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器，并建立了阻尼器输入电压主动调节或按位移和速度相关调节的阻尼力模型。其次，设计制作了最大阻尼力450N、阻尼力可调倍数2.5～3倍的小比例模型压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器，进行了可调阻尼力性能试验，得到了输入电压主动调节和分别按位移和速度相关调节的阻尼力滞回曲线，试验结果与阻尼力模型分析结果吻合较好。此外，探讨了压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器的规格化设计，分别设计了最大阻尼力20kN和200kN、阻尼力可调倍数2的压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器参数。压电-T型变摩擦阻尼器构造简单、阻尼力调节方便、响应迅速，是一种性能优燎能阻尼器.     

Mechanisms to limit higher mode effects in a controlled rocking steel frame. 2: Large‐amplitude shake table testing

This paper presents the results of 56 large‐amplitude shake table tests of a 30% scale eight‐storey controlled rocking steel frame. No significant damage or residual deformations were observed after any of the tests. The frame had four possible configurations on the basis of combinations of two higher mode mitigation mechanisms. The first mitigation mechanism was formed by allowing the upper section of the frame to rock, so as to better control the mid‐height overturning moment. The second mitigation mechanism was formed by replacing the conventional first‐storey brace with a self‐centering energy dissipative (SCED) brace, so as to better control the base shear. The mechanisms had little effect during records where higher mode effects were not apparent, but they substantially reduced the shear and overturning moment envelopes, as well as the peak floor accelerations, during more demanding records. The reduction in storey shears led to similarly reduced brace force demands. Although the peak force demands in the columns were not reduced by as much as the frame overturning moments, using an upper rocking joint allowed the column demands to be estimated without the need to assume a lateral force distribution. The tests demonstrated that multiple force‐limiting mechanisms can be used to provide better control of peak seismic forces without excessive increases in drift demands, thus enabling more reliable capacity design. These results are expected to be widely applicable to structures where the peak seismic forces are significantly influenced by higher mode effects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cantilever beam analogy for quantifying higher mode effects in multistorey buildings

This paper examines higher mode effects in systems where the ductile mechanism for seismic design is the base moment‐rotation response. The modal properties of flexural and shear beams with uniform mass and elasticity and with a variable amount of base rotational restraint are derived. As the base fixity is released, the first mode becomes the rigid body rotation of the beam about the base, but the higher modes change much less, particularly for the shear beam model. Most response quantities that are of interest in the seismic design of typical mid‐rise buildings are controlled by the first two lateral modes, except at locations along the height where the second mode contributes little. However, the third and higher lateral modes are more significant for high‐rise buildings. Based on the theory of uniform cantilever shear beams, expressions are developed to avoid the need for a modal analysis to estimate the overturning moment, storey shear, and floor acceleration envelopes. Considering the measured response from the shake table testing of a large‐scale eight‐storey controlled rocking steel braced frame, the proposed expressions are shown to be of similar or better accuracy to a modified modal superposition technique, which combines the higher mode response from an elastic modal analysis with the response associated with achieving the maximum base overturning moment according to an inverted triangular load distribution. Because the proposed method uses only parameters that are available at the initial design stage, avoiding the analysis of a structural model, it is likely to be especially useful for preliminary design. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Damping coefficients for near-fault ground motion response spectra

Damping coefficients are frequently used in earthquake engineering as a simple way to adjust the pseudo-acceleration or displacement response spectra associated with a viscous damping ratio of 5% to the higher values of viscous damping needed for design of structures equipped with base isolation and/or supplemental energy dissipation devices. In this study, damping coefficients for the single-degree-of-freedom system subjected to near-fault ground motions are calculated for a large range of periods and damping levels. The results indicate that damping coefficients proposed in design codes and previous studies, based primarily on far-field ground motion records, tend to not be conservative for near-fault seismic excitations. A new approach is recommended for the derivation of damping coefficients appropriate for engineering analysis and design in the immediate vicinity of the earthquake fault. This includes the normalization of the period axis with respect to the duration of the ground velocity pulses recorded in the near-fault region. The pulse duration is controlled by the rise time on the fault plane and scales directly with earthquake magnitude.     

Shaking table study and modelling of seismic behaviour of confined AAC masonry buildings

The response of autoclaved aerated concrete confined masonry buildings to seismic ground motion has been studied. Three 1:4 scale models of residential buildings with the same distribution of walls in plan but different types of floors and number of stories have been tested on a uni-directional shaking table. Lightweight prefabricated slabs have been installed in the case of the three-storey model M1, whereas reinforced concrete slabs have been constructed in the case of three-storey model M2 and four-storey model M3. Model M1 was subjected to seismic excitation along the axis of symmetry, whereas models M2 and M3 were tested orthogonal to it. Typical storey mechanism, characterised by diagonal shear failure mode of walls in the ground floor in the direction of excitation has been observed in all cases. Taking into consideration the observed behaviour, a numerical model with concentrated masses and storey hysteretic rules has been used to simulate the observed behaviour. Storey resistance curves calculated by a push-over method and hysteretic rules, which take into account damage and energy based stiffness degradation hysteretic rules, have been used to model the non-linear behaviour of the structure. Good agreement between the experimentally observed and calculated non-linear behaviour has been obtained.     

Optimal seismic response control with dampers

The usefulness of energy dissipation devices to reduce seismic response of structures is now well established. For a given installation of such devices in a structure, one can easily compute the level of response reduction achieved. However, the solution of an inverse problem of how many devices one would need to achieve a desired level of response reduction in a structure, or to achieve an expected level of performance from a structural system, is not quite as straightforward and well formulated. In this paper, a method is presented to obtain the amount of viscous and visco‐elastic damping one would need to obtain a desired level of response reduction. The needed supplemental devices are also optimally distributed in the structure to achieve the best performance. To solve the optimal problem, a gradient‐based optimization approach is used. To illustrate the application, numerical results for a 24‐storey building structure are presented where the objective is to achieve the maximum reduction in the performance functions expressed in terms of the inter‐storey drifts, base shear, or floor accelerations. Other forms of performance functions can also be treated similarly. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymmetric one‐storey elastic systems with non‐linear viscous and viscoelastic dampers: Simplified analysis and supplemental damping system design

Investigated is the accuracy in estimating the response of asymmetric one‐storey systems with non‐linear viscoelastic (VE) dampers by analysing the corresponding linear viscous system wherein all non‐linear VE dampers are replaced by their energy‐equivalent linear viscous dampers. The response of the corresponding linear viscous system is determined by response history analysis (RHA) and by response spectrum analysis (RSA) extended for non‐classically damped systems. The flexible and stiff edge deformations and plan rotation of the corresponding linear viscous system determined by the extended RSA procedure is shown to be sufficiently accurate for design applications with errors generally between 10 and 20%. Although similar accuracy is also shown for the ‘pseudo‐velocity’ of non‐linear VE dampers, the peak force of the non‐linear VE damper cannot be estimated directly from the peak damper force of the corresponding linear viscous system. A simple correction for damper force is proposed and shown to be accurate (with errors not exceeding 15%). For practical applications, an iterative linear analysis procedure is developed for determining the amplitude‐ and frequency‐dependent supplemental damping properties of the corresponding linear viscous system and for estimating the response of asymmetric one‐storey systems with non‐linear VE dampers from the earthquake design (or response) spectrum. Finally, a procedure is developed for designing non‐linear supplemental damping systems that satisfy given design criteria for a given design spectrum. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于多层框架结构的楼层阻尼比修正的仿真研究

附加有效阻尼比的确定是消能减震结构设计的关键。为探究布置消能器楼层数的不同对结构设计安全性的影响,以新疆地区某多层钢筋混凝土框架结构为研究对象,采用非线性时程分析方法和等效结构模型的振型分解反应谱分析方法,基于各楼层剪力计算结果,引入楼层阻尼比修正系数k_mn,对等效结构模型的附加有效阻尼比进行迭代修正。结果表明:采用小震时程分析阻尼比的等效结构模型,其楼层阻尼比修正系数随着阻尼器布置楼层数的逐渐增加呈现出先增后减的趋势,当阻尼器布置层数为楼层总数的3/5时折减率最低;采用中震时程分析阻尼比的等效结构模型,当阻尼器布置楼层数不少于2/5时,可满足设防要求;对于多层框架结构,考虑综合成本,黏滞阻尼器的布置楼层数可不采用满布的形式。