Experimental and analytical investigations of enhanced semi-rigid connections with dual pipe dampers

Abstract

The experimental and analytical study of semi-rigid steel connections with dual pipe dampers (DPD) are discussed in this research. The main goal of the paper is to investigate experimental and analytical models of semi-rigid connections with DPDs in steel buildings. The FEM methodology is used for analytical models of two beam-to-column connections equipped with DPDs to generate semi-rigid connections. In the next step, experimental tests are performed in laboratory and the achieved results are compared with the FEM ones. The use of DPDs has not yet been implemented in structures under construction, this solution can be used to deplete the energies caused by damaging excitations to the structures. The authors believe that these methods can be very practical for seismic retrofit and improvement of steel structures and the cost is less than other retrofitting alternatives. Two samples were selected to the investigation. The difference in the samples considered in this study is the thickness and diameter of the dampers. Therefore, the following general results were obtained: 1) Reducing the diameter of the pipes can increase the amount of force applied to the dampers to achieve a constant displacement; 2) by increasing the thickness of the damper, the amount of force applied to the device to achieve a constant displacement is greater. So, it can be said that the diameter and thickness of this type of dampers are very sensitive parameters for seismic energy dissipation in structures. DPDs have special advantages over many existing metal dampers such as low weigh and high energy absorption.