A New Approach to the Optimal Placement of the Viscous Damper Based on the Static Force Distribution Pattern

Abstract

Viscous dampers (VDs) are currently used an effective earthquake risk reduction measure. Due to the high cost of this type of dampers, an optimal damper layout across the stories will specifically improve the seismic response and reduce building costs. This paper introduces a new simple three-stage method to determine the optimal placement of VDs on different stories of reinforced concrete structures. In the first stage, the damping demand of each story was determined using the distribution pattern of earthquake forces by the equivalent static method and the story velocity obtained through time-history analysis. In the second stage, the number of dampers required for the structure was calculated, and the location and damping percentage of dampers were precisely determined through an iterative process in the third stage. An indicator representing all basic structural responses was used to evaluate the multiple choices for the damper layout. This process was evaluated for 4, 8 story concrete frames under a near-field earthquake. The results indicated the efficiency of the proposed method in determining the location and damping of VDs on different stories of the structure.