Inelastic velocity ratio

Knowledge of maximum velocity is essential for the design of structures and especially those with supplementary dampers. Although the nonlinear time history analysis leads to reliable estimation of actual velocities, it seems to be complicated for the everyday engineering practice due to the increased computational cost. This paper proposes an alternative for single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) systems to estimate the actual velocity in a straightforward and effective manner. More specifically, this study examines the inelastic velocity ratio (IVR), i.e., the ratio of the maximum inelastic to the maximum elastic velocity of an SDOF system, the knowledge of which allows the computation of maximum inelastic velocity directly from the corresponding elastic counterpart. The proposed method is general and can be applied to both conventional structures and structures with supplementary dampers. Extensive parametric studies are conducted to obtain expressions for IVR in terms of the period of vibration, viscous damping ratio, force reduction factor, and soil class. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.