A visco-elastoplastic pounding damage formulation

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new strategy that enables a quick dynamic assessment of damage caused by structural pounding. Applying a visco-elastoplastic pounding formulation, a new computational strategy is presented, which enables us to model the effect of the impacts on the damage state of the structures. In particular, sliding of the friction element of the visco-elastoplastic pounding formulation is associated with impact damage, which, involves a decrease in the structural stiffness of the colliding frames. The relationship between the position of the friction element and the remaining stiffness of the frames is defined by a damage law. At first, the extended set of equations of motions are introduced and the new strategy is demonstrated on two adjacent one-story shear frame structures subjected to sinusoidal ground excitation. Then the sensitivity of the parameters of the new damage formulation is analyzed using the Monte Carlo method. Finally, the new strategy is presented on a pair of adjacent multi-story frame structures subjected to ground motion. The method is computationally efficient and provides a powerful tool as an alternative to numerically expensive high-dimensional finite element simulations.