UTILIZING DAMPING DEVICES TO IMPROVE RESILIENCY OF STRUCTURES

Alan R. Klembczyk, Vice President Sales & Engineering

Taylor Devices, Inc.
90 Taylor Drive
North Tonawanda, NY 14120-0748 USA

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, utilizing various types of added-damping devices in structures has emerged as a useful,
reliable and predictable tool in significantly improving the resiliency of structures to a dynamic input. Much
research and testing have been performed that verifies the benefits of incorporating added-damping devices in
structures. Linear and non-linear fluid viscous dampers and tuned mass dampers continue to demonstrate
excellent performance in reducing deflection, acceleration response, inter-story drift and stress. Damping device
designs that have been well proven through decades of use are available in configurations that provide forces that
depend on input velocity, deflection, or a combination of both.

Although various building codes have emerged throughout the world that address methods and response
requirements of structures when utilizing damping devices, these codes do not provide a general comparison in
improved resiliency that is realized through their use.

Presented within this paper is a graphical and visual collection illustrating the benefits of incorporating added-
damping devices in structures. Examples include a comparison in terms of absorbed energy, cyclic degradation
comparison after a transient excitation and an earthquake level comparison by testing a scaled building model,
among others. This collection will provide a strong realization to the reader on how an added-damping device can
substantially improve building resiliency to a dynamic transient.

Introduction

Much research has been conducted and many papers have been written over the last few decades that document
analyses, test results, and improved performance of structures utilizing damping devices that are subjected to a
transient dynamic input such as earthquakes. Despite the improvements that have been realized and despite the
fact that well over one thousand structures have been outfitted with fluid dampers and tuned mass dampers, their
benefits are not fully understood or are under-utilized by many within the structural engineering community.

Why Fluid Dampers Work to Improve Building Performance

Fluid dampers operate by providing a resisting force only when moving. They do not add stiffness to a structure,
and they do not carry any static load. A fluid damper consists of a piston moving back and forth through a
viscous fluid thereby generating high pressure. This piston has custom designed orifices that produce an
optimized relationship that produces this pressure (force) that varies with velocity. The greater the velocity, the
greater the resisting force that is produced. This relationship is typically characterized by the following equation:

Damping Force = Damping Constant (C) x Velocity (1)

where is referred to as the damping exponent. This exponent can typically be set to anywhere between .3 and 2
depending on the specific application.
A typical cutaway of a fluid damper is illustrated below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Cutaway of Fluid Damper

Because the fluid damper only produces a resisting force only while moving and does not provide a restoring
(spring) force, energy is absorbed into the dampers fluid and converted to heat. This absorbed energy is simply
the summation of the damping force multiplied by the deflection. Because dampers can be designed to generate
greater than 10,000 psi of pressure, the force and therefore the absorbed energy can be relatively high.

It is this absorbed energy that significantly reduces the necessity of the structural portions of the building to
absorb that energy. Although this seems like a simple concept, the benefits are often not fully realized. This is
because of the fact that it is not only important how fluid dampers absorb energy, but also when they absorb
energy.

Imagine a structure moving due to a transient input. A significant response of that structure will be along its
dominant natural frequency as a sine wave. As the structure moves through its initial position, the deflection
stress at this moment in time is zero. It is also at this moment in time that the structure is moving with greatest
velocity and therefore the damper is reacting with its greatest force. Conversely, as the structure reaches its peak
deflection and stress farthest away from its initial position, the velocity reduces to zero and therefore the damper
is reacting with zero force at that moment in time. Because of this, utilizing fluid dampers actually reduces the
amount of stiffness (steel or concrete) that a structure must have to increase its ability to withstand earthquakes.
This is an efficient means to improve structural performance in terms of both cost and weight.

The benefit of fluid dampers to be out of phase with the structural deflection stress is not the case with elements
that increase stiffness or elements that are not velocity sensitive such as friction dampers or buckling restrained
braces (BRBs).

Returning to Equation (1) above, if a comparison is made with sinusoidal input to a fluid damper of the energy
absorbed for each cycle to the damping exponent, it is demonstrated that a fluid damper with a lower damping
exponent absorbs more energy per cycle than one with a higher exponent. This is illustrated in Figure 2 below.

Referring to the red curve in Figure 2 where the damping exponent is 0.4, it is demonstrated that the energy under
the force versus displacement curve (hysteresis) is higher than the blue curve where the damping exponent is 1.0
(i.e. linear damping). However, if a damping exponent of less than 0.4 is plotted, a point of diminishing returns
on this effect is realized. Note the very small difference between the 0.4 line in red and the 0.3 line in black.
Additionally, as stated above, since the damping force is out of phase with the deflection stresses, it is important
that this effect is not compromised by an exponent that is too low. Therefore, a damping exponent of
approximately 0.4 oftentimes provides an optimal combination of maintaining a high amount of energy absorbed
per cycle and at the same time minimizing the stress of adjacent structural members.

Figure 2. Comparison of Energy Absorbed with Varying Damping Exponents with Sinusoidal Input

How Fluid Dampers Are Analyzed and Arranged in Structures

Modern day software packages allow structures to be analyzed with fluid dampers with non-linear characteristics
as represented by Equation (1) above. Elements are typically set up to represent dampers at locations where
relative motion will be sustained during a dynamic event.

An example of the general process for modeling dampers is as follows:

1. Determine the design spectral acceleration parameters / ground motion time history for the specific site.
2. Generate a structural model with column and beam elements adding damping elements.
3. Set damper properties using known ranges from damper supplier. Initial estimates are arbitrary until the
model is optimized later.
4. Fine tune the model adding items such as tributary masses, number of modes desired and other analysis
options as listed in the software.
5. Run a first-pass analysis and check the scaling factors for the recorded ground motion by displaying the
response spectrum for the selected earthquake.
6. Using an iterative procedure, adjust damper parameters and even locations and arrangements as necessary
to optimize the solution.
7. Finalize the damper properties by selecting the closest available damper output parameters & capacities
according to the damper supplier.

The following figures represent typical examples of fluid damper arrangements in structures:
Figure 3. Fluid Dampers in Single Diagonal Braces

Figure 4. Fluid Dampers in a Double Diagonal Brace

Figure 5. Fluid Dampers in a Chevron Brace

Figure 6. Fluid Damper in a Patented Toggle Brace

Figure 7. Fluid Damper in a Base Isolated Structure

Figure 8. Fluid Dampers on a Bridge Pier

Graphical Examples of Improved Structural Performance During a Dynamic Event

Figures 9 and 10 below are the measured results of a steel building model subjected to an actual earthquake time
history. The Y-Axis of the graph is an index of base shear / weight. This is effectively an equivalent stress that
was measured during the test. The X-Axis is inter-story drift or effectively the relative motion between 2 stories.
Therefore, the graphs are a simple representation of stress versus deflection during the event.

Figure 9. Building Response with No Added Damping Effectively Demonstrates Stiffness

Input: 33% of El Centro Earthquake

Figure 10. Building Response with Fluid Dampers Added

Input: 100% of El Centro Earthquake

Note that in the figures, the maximum effective stress and the maximum deflection are virtually the same value.
However, also note that the input in Figure 9 is only 33% of the El Centro earthquake while the input in Figure 10
is 100% of the same event. Therefore, it is demonstrated in this test that by adding fluid dampers to the structure,
that structure can react with the same stress to 3 times greater the earthquake energy input. This is a significant
result and should not be understated.
Figures 11 and 12 below are the results of performing a test on a bridge both with and without dampers. Note that
in Figure 11, there is a significant first mode response that lasts for more than 30 seconds and dozens of cycles
after the transient event has stopped. Subsequent to this test, special dampers were added. Figure 12 represents
the test results of the damped bridge to the same transient. Note that the bridge only oscillates approximately 7
times and effectively stops after only 3-4 seconds.

Figure 11. Response of Bridge to an Instantaneous Transient with No Dampers

Figure 12. Response of Same Bridge to an Instantaneous Transient with Dampers

Conclusions

Fluid dampers have been shown to dramatically increase the ability of a structure to withstand dynamic inputs.
Additionally, utilizing these devices can actually reduce the total cost of a new building by successfully using
their efficient energy absorbing properties to prevent the unwanted energy from damaging structural components.
Only fluid dampers can reduce both stress and deflection simultaneously.