The Effectiveness of Viscous Dampers for Structures Subjected to Large Earthquakes

The efficacy of dampers in providing seismic protection has been validated by the excellent performance of buildings fitted with dampers in the past earthquakes. However, previous studies have not accounted for the limit states of dampers. Recently, a multi-year research project was completed that investigated the seismic performance of building with dampers subject to large earthquakes. It was shown that the limit states of viscous dampers have a significant effect on the response of the building. Experimental data from laboratory tests of viscous dampers were used to calibrate a model of viscous dampers with limit states. Next, analytical model of steel buildings with viscous dampers, incorporating damper limit states, were prepared and analyzed to determine their collapse performance. Analysis showed excellent performance and revealed that, the use of factors of safety to delay the onset of reaching limit states was beneficial.