Comparative analysis of seismic performance enhancement in irregular RC buildings using friction and viscous dampers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the impacts of friction dampers (FD) or fluid viscous dampers (FVD) in irregular (in plan and elevation) reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. The buildings (a four-story, a nine-story, and a twenty-story skyscraper) were analyzed using nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis on earthquake-recorded accelerograms, three of which were real while the other four were artificial. For this purpose, 70 nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out. This paper describes the optimal design of FDs and FVDs, with a focus on minimizing the following parameters: (i) maximum displacement (top of the structures), (ii) building torsion, and (iii) maximum horizontal inter-story drift. Two different placements of the dampers have been studied in each building. The consequences of each strengthening method are shown, and other relevant results were obtained from this creative comparison (optimal design, two passive energy systems, and three different story numbers). The comparable results show that in low-rise structures, FD was more successful than FVD in reducing torsional moment; however, in medium and high-rise buildings, VDF was more effective at improving the seismic performance of the structures.