Seismic design of steel structures with lead-extrusion dampers as knee braces

Abstract

One of the effective methods in decreasing the seismic response of structure against dynamic loads due to earthquake is using energy dissipating systems. Lead‐extrusion dampers (LED)are one of these systems that dissipate energy in to one lead sleeve because of steel rod movement. Hysteresis loops of these dampers are approximately rectangular and acts independent from velocity in frequencies that are in the seismic frequency rang. In this paper lead dampers are considered as knee brace in steel frames and are studied in an economical view. Considering that lead dampers don't clog structural panels, so this characteristic can solve brace problems from architectural view. The behavior of these dampers is compared with the other kind of dampers such as XADAS and TADAS. The results indicate that lead dampers act properly in absorbing the induced energy due to earthquake and good function in controlling seismic movements of multi‐story structures