Extending the modal incremental dynamic analysis method for structures equipped with viscoelastic dampers

Abstract

Viscoelastic (VE) dampers can be efficiently used for improving the seismic behavior of structures and also retrofitting of existing structures. Efficient nonlinear dynamic analysis methods like the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), especially the one which is based on Modal Pushover Analysis (MPA), which has proved especially popular among researchers, are required for analyzing the structures with dampers. As the IDA method is too complicated and time consuming, the MPA-based IDA method was introduced, a method which is fast and cost effective and the results are accurate enough to be utilized. Adoption of a static analysis in the procedure of MPA-based IDA method encourages the speculation that this method cannot be used for structures with dampers. This misconception has led to the fact that no one has ever used this method for structures with additional damping. In the present article, it is intended to present an approach to promote the applicability of the MPA-based IDA method for structures with VE dampers. The proposed approach is verified by the exact IDA method and validated by a numerical example. The results indicate the sufficient accuracy of the proposed technique, in which the MPA-based IDA is employed for structures with VE dampers.