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Fluid Viscous Dampers
Technical Brief

49. Seismic Testing of a Building Structure with a Semi-Active Fluid Damper Control System

This paper describes shaking table tests of a multi-story scale model building structure subjected to seismic excitation and controlled by a semi active fluid damper control system. The semi active dampers were installed in the lateral bracing of the structure and the mechanical properties of the dampers were modified according to control algorithms which utilized the measured response of the structure. A simplified time delay compensation method was developed to account for delays within the control system. The results of shaking table tests are presented and interpreted and analytical predictions are shown to compare reasonably well with the experimental results. These tests included an undamped system, passive damping, and semi-active damping. Both the purely passive damper system and the semi-active system significantly reduced seismic response.
Case Study

48. Arrowhead Regional Medical Center

This article describes every aspect of the design and construction of the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, including the use of base isolators and viscous dampers to insure continuous operation even after a major seismic event. The article even includes many of the financial aspects of this huge project.
Case Study

46. Design of Steel Pyramid Using Fluid Viscous Dampers with Moment Frame

The Eleven story 450,000 ft2 pyramid shaped office building described in this article was one of the first new buildings in the United States to use Seismic Dampers. This National Headquarters for a financial institution is located in West Sacramento, CA. The basic lateral force resisting system of the building consists of steel moment frames. In addition, approximately 15% of critical damping was provided using Fluid Viscous Dampers (FVD) in order to reduce displacement and acceleration. The steel moment frames were designed to remain well below the yield strength, and the story drift ratio was limited to 0.005 to protect the welded moment connections for the Design Basis Earthquake (DBE). Earthquake performance, cost effectiveness, and architectural requirements were the primary concerns in designing this building.
White Paper

44. Fluid Viscous Damping as an Alternative to Base Isolation

Base isolation of large structures has proven to be an effective way to attenuate seismic excitation. However it can be costly, and can also involve major building modification. It is now possible to attain a comparable degree of earthquake mitigation with fluid viscous dampers located throughout a structure, without having to isolate the building. This paper describes several techniques for doing this, provides analytical back-up and describes several applications of this technology.
Case Study

43. Pre-Qualification Testing of Viscous Dampers for the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Rehabilitation Project

This report presents the results of the testing of a viscous damping device provided to the Earthquake Engineering Research Center (EERC) of the University of California at Berkeley for pre-qualification testing as part of the seismic rehabilitation of the Golden Gate Bridge. In all, four different viscous dampers from four different manufacturers were tested in the prequalification program. This report presents the test results for the damper denoted Damper C. The test results for the other three dampers, Dampers A, B, and D, are presented in separate reports. Conclusions were that Damper C performed consistently and well throughout the entire testing/pre-qualification program. This report also includes a complete specification for production dampers for this project.
White Paper

42. Fluid Dampers for Applications of Seismic Energy Dissipation and Seismic Isolation

University at Buffalo has conducted extensive evaluation of fluid viscous dampers including development of an analytical model of the damper, computational model of structures including dampers and a number of experimental verifications. This paper describes this program, alone with a history of viscous dampers and a description of some projects that use them.
White Paper

40. Energy Dissipation Devices in Bridges Using Hydraulic Dampers

Specially designed energy dissipation systems are well known for improving seismic performance of structures by absorbing earthquake induced energy. In this paper, the use of linear and nonlinear hydraulic dampers is investigated in a bridge application. A two-span, skewed, cast-in-place prestressed concrete bridge with an outrigger bent is examined. The bridge is located in a highly seismic area of Southern California. It is observed that dampers alleviate the torsional movement and reduce the transverse and longitudinal movements of the superstructure.
White Paper

36. Viscous Damping for Base Isolated Structures

Seismic Base Isolation can use elastomeric pads, sliding plates or inverted pendulums. Each method can include an energy dissipation means, but only as some kind of hysteretic damping. Hysteretic damping has limitations in terms of energy absorption and may tend to excite higher modes in some cases. It’s possible to avoid these problems with viscous dampers. Viscous damping adds energy dissipation through loads that are 90o out of phase with bending and shear loads so even with damping levels as high as 40% of critical adverse side effects tend to be minimal. This paper presents basic theory of viscous damping and also describes a sample project. Viscous dampers being built for the new San Bernardino Medical Center reduce both deflections and loads by 50% compared with high damping elastomer base isolation bearings by themselves.
Case Study

35. Seismic Rehabilitation of a Historic Non-Ductile Soft Story Concrete Structure Using Fluid Viscous Dampers

Hotel Woodland is one of the first structures in North America to be seismically retrofitted using viscous dampers. This four story 1927 vintage Historical Landmark reinforced concrete building is located in Woodland, California. It was essential to improve the earthquake response performance of the building and minimize cost while maintaining the historical appearance of the building. This paper presents the processes and decisions regarding retrofit criteria and design procedure for earthquake demand, building response performance, historical interests, and economic considerations.

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