Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties of Small Size Viscoelastic Damper

Abstract

Long span roofs are very likely to oscillate when subjected to wind load that can lead to structure fatigue and endanger structures safety. Dampers have been used for long time to dissipate wind and earthquake induced energy in structures. This research work aims to present experimental study of small size viscoelastic damper that can be installed in truss of long span roof. Small size viscoelastic dampers that can be used to dissipate wind induced energy in large span roof structure need to be tested to know their performance behavior and mechanical properties at different loading amplitudes and frequencies. A kind of viscoelastic dampers were manufactured and tested under horizontal cyclic loads. Resistance and deformation of the damper were measured to study the viscoelastic damper properties dependence on frequency and amplitude. Mechanical properties including shear storage modulus, shear loss modulus, loss factor and energy dissipation are studied. Experimental results show that the small size damper’s mechanical properties are significantly related to its loading frequency and amplitude. The energy dissipation capacity of the damper was stable under different loading frequency and amplitude.