Feasibility Evaluation of Novel High-Damping Rubbers as Energy-Dissipation Material under Axial Dynamic Load for Damper Devices

Abstract

High-damping rubber (HDR) material has been widely used in bearings for seismic-isolation devices in structures. Nevertheless, HDR has not yet been developed in dampers to reduce the response of structures to earthquake excitations by dissipating the energy applied to the structures under direct axial load. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the feasibility of using novel hyperelastic composite material (HECM), which is an HDR material, in experimental investigations to determine its damping ratio, compressibility, and elasticity behavior under axial dynamic load for the development of novel dampers in the future. First, a series of tests on HECM was conducted using the double-shear method to determine the most suitable sample for a purely dynamic compression test. Subsequently, the HECM was used in a device working as a scaled-down damper under both direct tension and compression dynamic load conditions, and pure direct compression dynamic load conditions were tested. Various thicknesses of the HECM (6, 8, and 10 mm) used in the testing damper were examined under a constant force with various frequencies of 0.01, 0.1, 0.25, and 0.5 Hz. The results show that the 10 mm thick HECM can provide a high damping ratio of 10% to 13% under axial conditions. Hence, this study is important for evaluating HECM, which has the potential for use in developing a full-scaled rubber damper system to resist axial force in the future. The damper is a novel rubber damper with high damping capability to dissipate energy under axial load. Furthermore, the damper can serve as an alternative choice that is more durable and overcomes the current weaknesses of passive dampers.