Development of a Multiaction Hybrid Damper for Passive Energy Dissipation

Abstract

A multiaction hybrid damper (MHD) is designed to have independent hysteretic characteristics under small and large loading conditions, and its control performance for building structures excited by wind or earthquake load is verified. The MHD is composed of steel elements, two friction pads, and two lead rubber bearings (LRBs). Because the friction pads and the LRBs are in series connection, only the LRBs deform before the friction pad slippage occurs. After the friction slippage, the damper deformation concentrates on the friction pads. The initial stiffness and hysteresis are dependent on the properties of the LRB, and the maximum force is determined by the friction pad. Accordingly, the load-deformation behaviors before/after the friction slippage can be independently designed to show optimal performance for a building structure subject to wind and earthquake loads. The cyclic loading tests of a full scale MHD were conducted to evaluate the multiaction behaviors and energy dissipation capacity of the MHD. The control performance of the MHD damper is analytically investigated by using a 20-story steel structure subject to wind loads and a 15-story RC structure excited by earthquake loads. The MHD damper showed good performance for reducing both the linear wind-induced and nonlinear earthquake-induced responses.