Pekcan, Mander, and Chen 2000
The authors examine the effectiveness of a supplemental damping system experimentally and analytically. Seven different configurations with various bracing and supplemental damping systems were tested to investigate the effectiveness of each supplemental damping system consisting of ESD and fuse-bars to mitigate the seismic response of steel structures.
System Concept
The structure consisted of elastomeric spring dampers and fuse-bars. The damper and fuse bar were used to mitigate the seismic response of steel structures. Fuse-bars provide a high initial stiffness and thus limit displacements.
Experimental Study, Results, and Discussion
In this study, ESD devices and fuse-bars were installed in series along with an in-line load cell in a tension-only working tendon system. Fuse bars were fixed at their lower ends to the reaction beam, parallel to the ESD devices. Shake-table tests were conducted with the following configurations: various conventional bracing, tendon-damper, and tendon-fuse plus damper.
According to the test results; ESD devices, with or without a TFD system, reduced the overall seismic response of the structure. Moreover, in tension-only systems, abrupt loading caused high accelerations over the height of the structure. A lack of redundancy in the structure presented further concerns. These disadvantages of tension-only systems can be overcome by pre-stressing the supplemental system with the steel tendon.
Analytical Study
This study also addresses the development and implementation steps of creating a computational model. DRAIN-2DX was used to create a computational model with an iterative solution method. After that, this computational model was then compared with a model implemented in SAP 2000 to check for accuracy in the software methodology.
Reference
Pekcan, G., Mander, J. B., and Chen, S. S. (2000). “Experiments on Steel MRF Building with Supplemental Tendon System,” Journal of Structural Engineering, pp. 896-905.