87. FLUID DAMPERS FOR SEISMIC PROTECTION OF WOODFRAME STRUCTURES
In the recent past a large number of steel framed buildings have used supplemental energy dissipation systems to provide seismic protection. However, the application of such systems to wood frame structures has been essentially non-existent except for a limited number of experimental laboratory studies. This paper presents a numerical study of the application of fluid dampers for seismic protection of wood framed structures. Such dampers dissipate energy via orificing of a fluid. The seismic response of a wood framed shear wall with and without dampers is evaluated via nonlinear finite element analyses. The results of the analyses demonstrate that the dampers are capable of dissipating a large portion of the seismic input energy while simultaneously relieving the inelastic energy dissipation demand on the shear wall.