• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1171-1186
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• 2014

Damping is one of the parameters that control the performance of structures when they are subjected to seismic, wind, blast or other transient shock and vibration disturbances. By adding supplemental viscous dampers, the energy input from a transient deformation is absorbed, not only by the structure itself, but also by the supplemental dampers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the values of both damping and ductility reduction factors for steel moment resisting frames with supplemental linear viscous dampers. Two-dimensional finite element models have been established for a range of low to mid rise buildings with different parameters: number of floors; number of bays; and number of dampers with different supplemental damping ratios (from 5% to 30%). A parametric study has been performed using time history analyses and a well-documented research method (N2-method). In addition, an equation has been proposed for each reduction factor based on regression analysis for the obtained results. The results of the Time history analyses are compared with those of a modified N2-method. Moreover, a comparison with values specified in the European code EC8 and the Egyptian code ECP-201 has been performed.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2003

This paper presents a design procedure for viscoelastic dampers to be installed in a full-scale steel structure and observes their vibration control effect, based on the excitation method and the dynamic characteristics of the structure investigated in the companion paper, Additional damping ratios required to reduce the maximum displacement to a given level were obtained by convex model. The size of dampers was determined by observing the change in modal damping ratio due to the change in damper stiffness using the modal strain energy method, The effect of the supporting braces was also considered in the determination of the modal properties. Two viscoelastic dampers were installed at the first and second inter-stories, respectively and their response reduction is verified.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.31-37
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• 2014

For the vibration control of residential buildings, a multiple type slim damper system is developed and dynamic performance test is performed in this study. In conventional damping systems, larger installation space is required in order to achieve acceptable seismic performance, and as a result, it is difficult to determine efficient damping capacity of the device. The proposed damping device is composed of several small slim type dampers and linkage units. It can control damping capacity easily by changing the number of the small damper. To evaluate the proposed damping device, three slim type dampers (single-type, triple-type and penta-type) are designed and manufactured in real scale. Dynamic loading tests are performed by using the three manufactured dampers. From the tests, it is shown that damping coefficient is proportional to the number of the damper combined. Thus, test results validates the practicality of the proposed slim type dampers. applying nonlinear curve fitting technique, numerical model of the dampers are developed and presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.69-79
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• 2011

This paper proposes a GA-based optimal fuzzy control technique for the vibration control of earthquakeexcited adjacent structures interconnected with semi-active magneto-rheological(MR) dampers. Rule-based fuzzy logic controllers are designed first by implementing heuristic knowledge and the genetic algorithm(GA) is then introduced to optimally tune the fuzzy controllers for enhancing the seismic performance of semi-active control system. For practical implementation, the fuzzy controller simply uses locally measured responses of the dampers involved and directly returns the input voltage to the magneto-rheological dampers in real time through the fuzzy inference mechanism. The local measurement based fuzzy controller provides optimal damping force in a decentralized manner so that it does not require a primary central controller unlike the conventional semi-active control techniques. As a result, it can avoid the unbridgeable discrepancy between the desired control force and the actual damper force that may occur in the conventional control approaches. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed control method are shown numerically on two 20-story earthquake-excited buildings interconnected with MR dampers.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 2017

With the growing demand for metallic dampers in engineering practice, it is urgent to establish a reasonable approach to evaluating the mechanical performance of metallic dampers under seismic excitations. This paper introduces an effective method for parameter identification of the modified Bouc-Wen model and its application to evaluating the fatigue performance of metallic dampers (MDs). The modified Bouc-Wen model which eliminates the redundant parameter is used to describe the hysteresis behavior of MDs. Relations between the parameters of the modified Bouc-Wen model and the mechanical performance parameters of MDs are studied first. A modified Genetic Algorithm using real-integer hybrid coding with relative fitness as well as adaptive crossover and mutation rates (called RFAGA) is then proposed to identify the parameters of the modified Bouc-Wen model. A reliable approach to evaluating the fatigue performance of the MDs with respect to the Chinese Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB 50011-2010) is finally proposed based on the research results. Experimental data are employed to demonstrate the process and verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. It is shown that the RFAGA is able to converge quickly in the identification process, and the simulation curves based on the identification results fit well with the experimental hysteresis curves. Furthermore, the proposed approach is shown to be a useful tool for evaluating the fatigue performance of MDs with respect to the Chinese Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB 50011-2010).

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2019

Over the past decades, a great variety of dampers have been developed and applied to mechanical, aerospace, and civil structures to control structural vibrations. This study is focused on two emerging damper types, namely, eddy current dampers (ECDs) and electromagnetic damper (EMDs), both of which are regarded as promising alternatives to commonly-applied viscous fluid dampers (VFDs) because of their similar mechanical behavior. This study aims to enhance the damping densities of ECDs and EMDs, which are typically lower than those of VFDs, by proposing new designs with multiple improvement measures. The design configurations, mechanisms, and experimental results of the new ECDs and EMDs are presented in this paper. The further comparison based on the experimental results revealed that the damping densities of the proposed ECD and EMD designs are comparable to those of market-available VFDs. Considering ECDs and EMDs are solid-state dampers without fluid leakage problems, the results obtained in this study demonstrate a great prospect of replacing conventional VFDs with the improved ECDs and EMDs in future large-scale applications.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.521-536
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• 2019

Using magnetorheological (MR) dampers in multiswitch open-loop control mode has been shown to be cost-effective for cable vibration mitigation. In this paper, a method for analyzing the damping performance of taut cables incorporating MR dampers in open-loop control mode is developed considering the effects of damping coefficient, damper stiffness, damper mass, and stiffness of the damper support. Making use of a three-element model of MR dampers and complex modal analysis, both numerical and asymptotic solutions are obtained. An analytical expression is obtained from the asymptotic solution to evaluate the equivalent damping ratio of the cable-damper system in the open-loop control mode. The individual and combined effects of the damping coefficient, damper stiffness, damper mass and stiffness of damper support on vibration control effectiveness are investigated in detail. The main thrust of the present study is to derive a general formula explicitly relating the normalized system damping ratio and the normalized damper parameters in consideration of all concerned effects, which can be easily used for the design of MR dampers to achieve optimal open-loop vibration control of taut cables.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.437-453
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• 2019

This study investigates a new optimal placement method for viscous dampers between structures in order to prevent pounding of adjacent structures with different dynamic characteristics under earthquake effects. A relative displacement spectrum is developed in two single degree of freedom system to reveal the critical period ratios for the most risky scenario of collision using El Centro earthquake record (NS). Three different types of viscous damper design, which are classical, stair and X-diagonal model, are considered to prevent pounding on two adjacent building models. The objective function is minimized under the upper and lower limits of the damping coefficient of the damper and a target modal damping ratio. A new algorithm including time history analyses and numerical optimization methods is proposed to find the optimal dampers placement. The proposed design method is tested on two 12-storey adjacent building models. The effects of the type of damper placement on structural models, the critical period ratios of adjacent structures, the permissible relative displacement limit, the mode behavior and the upper limit of damper are investigated in detail. The results of the analyzes show that the proposed method can be used as an effective means of finding the optimum amount and location of the dampers and eliminating the risk of pounding.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1741-1753
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• 2018

Metallic dampers are sacrificial devices (fuses) that dissipate significant energy during earthquakes while protecting other parts of structures from possible damage. In addition to numerous implementation opportunities of other base isolation systems, U-shaped dampers (UD) are one of the widely investigated and used devices in practice especially in Japan. The present study focuses on enhancing seismic performance of these types of dampers by changing their geometric properties. UDs with perforated (i.e. with holes) and/or nonparallel arms are developed for this purpose. For a better comparison, the criterion of equal material volume (or mass) has been utilized. Three dimensional finite element models of the new type of UDs are formed and investigated numerically under selected displacement histories. Based on the obtained hysteretic curves; dissipated energy intensities, effective stiffness ratios, reaction forces, effective damping ratios are evaluated in this parametric study. It is found that both damper types have merits in use of seismic applications and that the selection of the damper configuration is dependent on the design specific issues.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.361-379
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• 2023

In cable structure maintenance, particularly for cable-stayed bridges, cable safety assessment relies on estimating cable tension. Conventionally, in Japan, cable tension is estimated from the natural frequencies of the cable using the higher-order vibration method. In recent years, dampers have been installed on cables to reduce cable vibrations. Because the higher-order vibration method is a method for damper-free cables, the damper must be removed to measure the natural frequencies of a cable without a damper. However, cables on some cable-stayed bridges have two dampers: one on the girder side and another on the tower side. Notably, removing and reinstalling the damper on the tower side are considerably more time- and labor-intensive. This paper introduces a tension estimation method for cables with two dampers, using natural frequencies. The proposed method was validated through numerical simulation and experiment. In the numerical tests, without measurement error in the natural frequencies, the maximum estimation error among 100 models was 3.3%. With measurement error of 2%, the average estimation error was within 5%, with a maximum error of 9%. The proposed method has high accuracy because the higher-order vibration method for a damper-free cable still has an estimation error of 5%. The experimental verification emphasizes the importance of accurate damper modeling, highlighting potential discrepancies between existing damper design formula and actual damper behavior. By revising the damper formula, the proposed method achieved accurate cable tension estimation, with a maximum estimation error of approximately 10%.