Modeling and Investigating the Behavior of Viscous Dampers in Steel Structures

Abstract:

Viscous dampers are generally effective in controlling the vibrations stemming from the wind in
the steel structures as well as in excitements with frequency band identical to that of these dampers. Tuned
viscous damper is a passive control system the parameters of which are determined based on the structure’s
preliminary specifications and always remain fixed. The primary goal of this study is observing the
nonlinear behavior and evaluating the seismic performance of the steel structures with specific steel
moment frames equipped with viscous damper under mass and damping uncertainty conditions of the
structure as well as in respect to the elastic modulus and yield stress in steel. This evaluation has been
carried out by the assistance of ETABS and Sketch-Up Software Packages with the time history analysis
having been conducted in Sap2000 Software. To do so, three steel 3-, 9- and 12-storey structures with
residential use have been considered on an earthquake-prone region. The study results indicated that the
storey’s drift and dislocation have been considerably reduced. Thus, it can be concluded that the use of
viscous damper is an appropriate method for controlling the structures’ dislocation. It was also found out
that the emergence of disorder in the structure’s mass and damping has a greater effect in contrast to the
other two parameters on the response of the structure equipped with viscous damper.

Mohmmad Masoud Ghiabi