A Simplified Design Strategy of Nonlinear Fluid Viscous Dampers for MDOF Structures

Abstract

Energy dissipation devices are increasingly used as vibration mitigation systems owing to their efficiency. Therefore, many attempts were made to facilitate their design process. The design of fluid viscous dampers is summarized in the selection of suitable damping values and their location in the structure. This paper presents a strategy that estimates the damping coefficient value for nonlinear fluid viscous dampers in a straightforward manner. This minimizes the design time, and thus, more flexibility is offered for further design considerations. Combining a methodology that predicts a linear damping coefficient based on the concept of target-damping ratio, then, applying an equivalent energy-consumption approach to determine the nonlinear damping coefficient. This research gives a description of the method and its implementation by studying a structure equipped with a set of additional fluid viscous dampers. The results illustrate the efficiency and simplicity of the method.