Seismic response of steel structures with seesaw systems using viscoelastic dampers

Abstract

SUMMARYVibration control systems are being used increasingly worldwide to provide enhanced seismic protection for new and retrofitted buildings. This paper presents a new vibration control system on the basis of a seesaw mechanism with viscoelastic dampers. The proposed vibration control system comprises three parts: brace, seesaw member, and viscoelastic dampers. In this system, only tensile force appears in bracing members. Consequently, the brace buckling problem is negligible, which enables the use of steel rods for bracing members. By introducing pre‐tension in rods, long steel rods are applicable as bracing between the seesaw members and the moment frame connections over some stories. Seesaw mechanisms can magnify the damper deformation according to the damper system configuration. In this paper, first, the magnification factor, that is, the ratio of the damper deformation to the story drift, is delivered, which includes the rod deformation. Results of a case study demonstrate that the magnification factor of the proposed system is greater than unity for some cases. Seismic response analysis is conducted for steel moment frames with the proposed vibration control system. Energy dissipation characteristics are examined using the time‐history response results of energy. The maximum story drift angle distributions and time‐history response results of displacement show that the proposed system can reduce the seismic response of the frames effectively. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.