Abstract
Viscous-type dampers used for buildings can reduce building vibrations ranging from minor shaking by traffic loads to major shaking by strong earthquakes. In order to increase their efficiency, deformations of integrating component adherent to the viscous damping component must be minimized so that most deformation takes place in the latter, maximizing dissipation of the kinetic energy. Both theoretical and approximate solutions are proposed for estimating the efficiency of a brace damper, by considering axial deformations of the integrating components. They are based on the differential equations of the axial strains in complex domain, expressing strain and stress in- or out-of-phase with the stroke imposed to the damper. For time-history analysis, a simplified modeling method for the interaction between the two components is proposed and its accuracy demonstrated.
