Using a tuned-inerto-viscous-hysteretic-damper (TIVhD) for vibration suppression in multi-storey building structures

This paper explores the use of a novel tuned-inerto-viscous-hysteretic-damper (TIVhD) for reducing the seismic response of multi-storey building structures. The TIVhD is an inerter-based damper device consisting of a linear hysteretic damper connected in series with an inerto-viscous damper. The layout of TIVhD is similar to that of tuned-inerter-hysteretic-damper (TIhD) with an additional viscous damping element in parallel with an inerter. The design is motivated by the fact that most inerter designs cannot completely remove the parasitic damping due to friction, fluid compression, etc. Moreover, the use of linear hysteretic damping is considered to be a more realistic approach when material damping is present. In this paper, the TIVhD is installed between the ground and the first-storey and is tuned by firstly assumed the viscous damping coefficient to be zero. Then the other three parameters are optimised following the tuning procedure of the TIhD that is based on the fixed-point theory with additional fine-tuning procedure by targeting the first vibration mode of the multi-storey structure. The optimum TIVhD parameters are finally obtained using two scenarios: (1) amplifying its viscous damping coefficient and stiffness while keeping the inertance constant; (2) amplifying its inertance and stiffness while keeping the viscous damping constant. Both scenarios are aiming at the same reduction level of that given by the TIhD. Finally, the effectiveness of the TIVhD on reducing the structural response is demonstrated for both harmonic and seismic base excitation cases in the time domain. This has been made possible by a newly developed time domain response of linear hysteretic damping via the Hilbert transform and a time reversal technique.