Structural analysis of a school building with viscous dampers applied

Abstract

Viscous damper, as a type of energy-dissipating device, is applied in the 3-story school building. To investigate the function of viscous dampers, seismic nonlinear analysis is performed on the FE model with viscous dampers simulated in. The analysis is done for both minor earthquake and severe earthquake. The analysis results show that the viscous dampers start to dissipate energy in minor earthquake input and dissipate more energy in severe earthquake. Therefore, application of viscous dampers significantly reduce the seismic response of the building and effectively protect the structure building from severe damage or collapse.