Experimental validation of performance-based seismic design of Building Systems with dampers using real-time hybrid simulation

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental program using real-time hybrid simulation to verify the performance-based seismic design of a two story, four-bay steel moment resisting frame (MRF) building equipped with compressed elastomer dampers. The laboratory specimens, referred to as experimental substructures, are two individual compressed elastomer dampers, while the remaining part of the building is modeled as an analytical substructure. The proposed experimental technique enables an ensemble of ground motions to be applied to the building, resulting in various levels of damage, without the need to repair the experimental substructures since the damage is within the analytical substructure. Statistical experimental response results incorporating the ground motion variability show that an MRF with compressed elastomer dampers can be designed to perform better than a conventional steel special moment resisting frame (SMRF), even when the MRF with dampers is significantly lighter in weight than the conventional SMRF. To demonstrate and verify the full potential of new types of dampers, damper designs and performance-based design procedures for structural systems with dampers should be experimentally validated. Full-scale testing is a reliable but, at the same time, a challenging experimental technique. In particular, full-scale testing of structural systems designed to experience inelastic deformations may be cost and time prohibitive since the damaged components of the structural system need to be repaired or rebuilt after each test. Real-time hybrid simulation combines physical testing and numerical simulation such that the dynamic performance of the entire structural system can be considered during the simulation. When real-time hybrid simulation is utilized to evaluate the performance of structures with rate.

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ORCID for T.L. Karavasilis: orcid.org/0000-0003-2553-5389

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