Displacement reduction effect and simplified evaluation method for SDOF systems using a clutching inerter damper

Abstract

SummaryThis study evaluates the response reduction effect of linear single degree of freedom systems with a clutching inerter damper (CID) via parametric analysis under harmonic excitations and real earthquake records. The cause of the displacement reduction effect of a CID is inherited from the inertial mass damper (IMD)—reducing the nominal load intensity by increasing the mass by inertance. Additionally, the displacement reduction effect is further enhanced by the clutching effect, which speeds up the decreasing of the velocity response from an instantaneous extremum to 0. Thus, the CID is more effective than the IMD at reducing displacement responses. For example, the displacement response for a long‐period structure with a CID can be reduced by approximately 53%, while for an IMD, it can only be reduced by approximately 24%. Additionally, the linear single degree of freedom system with a CID is a weak nonlinear system reserving homogeneity, indicating that the response reduction factor will provide enough information to reveal the seismic reduction effect of the CID and that there is no need to consider the amplitude of the input excitations. To simplify the analysis of such nonlinear systems, an equivalent linearization method and a simplified formula of displacement reduction factors for code‐based designs are proposed and validated by another independent set of records from the European Strong‐motion Database.