Evaluation of Seismic Behavior and Select Optimal Situation of Cylindrical Frictional Dampers in Steel Structures

Abstract

In this investigation, seismic response of steel structures utilizing Cylindrical Frictional Dampers (CFD) is studied. CFD is an innovative frictional damper which comprises two principal elements, the shaft and the hollow cylinder. These two elements are assembled such that one is shrink-fitted inside the other. If the damper’s axial force overcomes the static friction load, the shaft inside the cylinder will move and results in considerable mechanical energy absorption. To assess the efficacy of CFD 6 story steel frame are constructed and analyzed. Nonlinear time history analyses are applied to the frames and clear distinction has been drawn between the frames comprising CFD and the counterparts without CFD to emphasize the effectiveness of CFD in altering seismic responses. The results show that CFD extremely improves the seismic response of the structure. Considering that we can install this damper in various situations to absorb energy, the behavior of this damper is evaluated in these situations. Response of structure (such as displacement, base shear, etc) represents the best and most effective position and optimal situation of the damper which is in diagonal brace.

Keywords

• cylindrical frictional dampers
• energy absorption
• non-linear analyses
• optimal situation