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Seismic Applications
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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

39. Seismic Evaluation and Retrofitting of U.S. Long-Span Suspension Bridges

This paper is a first attempt to raise issues about the seismic evaluation and retrofitting of longspan suspension bridges in the United States. The issues discussed in this paper deal seismic hazards and risks; performance and design criteria; ground motions; geotechnical engineering, substructure mathematical modeling, and soil structure interaction (SSI); actual conditions of structural components; superstructure mathematical modeling; ambient vibration testing; analysis of superstructure; suspension bridge component vulnerabilities; instrumentation and monitoring; laboratory testing; retrofitting; and the effects of limited funding and time constraints.
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.
White Paper

34. Fear of Trembling

This article describes the effects of both Kobe earthquake and the Northridge earthquake in detail, including technical and economic details. It also discusses building codes and practices and what is being done around the world to decrease the risk of severe seismic damage.

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