Abstract
The viscoelastic dampers are considered to be one of the most efficient means of upgrading existing structures against seismic loads. Generally in the dynamic analysis of a structure with added viscoelastic dampers the internal forces of the dampers are represented by constants that are linearly proportional to displacement and velocity. The purpose of this study is to verify the validity of the linear Kelvin model by comparing the results from the linear analysis with those obtained from the more rigorous nonlinear model such as fractional derivative model. According to the results the structural responses of 1-DOF structure obtained using the linear model are very close to those obtained from nonlinear model. However for multi-D0F structure the difference between the results from both models is enlarged as a results of the assumptions associated with the linear modeling of the viscoelastic dampers.