<title>Viscous and metallic dampers in a building structure subjected to varying levels of ground motion</title>

Abstract

Supplemental energy dissipation devices have been proven in applications worldwide to be an effective means of mitigating seismic hazard. This work offers a comparison of viscous fluid dampers and metallic yielding dampers in a Steel Moment Frame. A computer-simulated building frame model, with and without supplemental energy dissipation devices, is subjected to three levels of ground motion. The simulated building is then fitted with four combinations of metallic yielding dampers, with varying stiffness ratio, and viscous fluid dampers, with 10%, 20%, and 30% of critical damping. One additional combination of dampers is examined with varying ductility ratio to demonstrate its effect on the metallic dampers. Comparison and analysis of the simulation results reveals that the viscous fluid dampers are more flexible in their suitability for a wider range of applications, but that metallic dampers are perhaps more suitable for situations involving large seismic input requiring early energy dissipation. The comparison of the response of the frame with different values of ductility ratio with respect to the metallic dampers reveals that it is the stiffness ratio rather than the ductility ratio that has a greater effect on the performance of the devices under seismic loading.