A noniterative design procedure for supplemental brace-damper systems in single-degree-of-freedom systems

• Published in: Earthquake engineering & structural dynamics Vol. 42; no. 15; pp. 2361 - 2367
• Main Authors: Londoño, Julián M., Neild, Simon A., Wagg, David J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-12-2013; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: brace-damper systems; damper sizing; Dampers; Design engineering; Dynamic response; Dynamical systems; Dynamics; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Earthquake engineering; Earthquakes, seismology; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Engineering geology; Exact sciences and technology; Grounds; Internal geophysics; Maxwell model; Optimization; supplemental damping; brace―damper systems; models; solution; Maxwell model; damper sizing; earthquake engineering; stiffness; performances; supplemental damping
• ISSN: 0098-8847; 1096-9845
• DOI: 10.1002/eqe.2339

SUMMARY
In this paper, a method for designing supplemental brace–damper systems in single‐degree‐of‐freedom (SDOF) structures is presented. We include the effects of the supporting brace stiffness in the dynamic response by using a viscoelastic Maxwell model. On the basis of the study of an SDOF under ground excitation, we propose a noniterative design procedure for simultaneously specifying both the damper and the brace while assuring a desired structural performance. It is shown that to increase the damper size beyond the value delivered by the proposed criteria will not provide any improvement but actually worsen the structural response. The design method presented here shows excellent agreement with the FEMA 273 design approach but offers solutions closer to optimality. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.