Performance analysis of composite viscoelastic steel tube damper

The lead-filled steel tube damper has the advantages of stable performance and high energy dissipation, but has the disadvantages of large mass and high cost. A lightweight and environmentally friendly viscoelastic body-filled steel tube damper (referred to as VBSTD) was presented, and its structural details, rationales and characteristics were introduced. The finite element models of solid viscoelastic body-filled steel tube damper (referred to as SVBSTD), hollow viscoelastic body-filled steel tube damper (referred to as HVBSTD) and lead-filled steel tube damper (referred to as LFSTD) were established by using the ABAQUS software, and the behavior of the three types of dampers were simulated and compared in terms of the stress distribution, hysteretic behavior, equivalent cumulative plastic strain and cumulative specific energy. The results show that the VBSTD possesses stable working performance and clear force transfer mechanism, and exhibits full and symmetric hysteretic curves. The VBSTDs can enter the energy dissipating state at a very small displacement (1 mm), while their equivalent damping ratios are steady in the range of 45%-50%, leading to a larger cumulative specific absorption energy and more energy dissipation per unit mass. It can thus replace the LFSTD. The laminated viscoelastic materials with different structures have little influence on the working performance and energy dissipation capacity of the VBSTD, while the structure parameters of steel tube have great influence on its performance. The HVBSTD has the best performance overall. © 2020, Editorial Office of Journal of Building Structures. All right reserved.