A variable damping viscous damper for control of buildings under wind loading

High-rise buildings are susceptible to low-frequency vibrations induced by wind loading, and the traditional constant damping viscous damper (CDVD) falls short in effectively suppressing vibrations of high-rise buildings under wind loadings because of its constant damping coefficient. To address this, a novel variable damping viscous damper (VDVD) is first designed and fabricated. The characterization tests were conducted to evaluate the variable damping characteristics under different velocities. The control performance of the VDVD in high-rise buildings under wind loadings with varying wind pressures is simulated and analysed, as comparisons with CDVD. The test results show that the damping coefficient of the VDVD increases with the input velocity. Furthermore, it exhibits the capability to achieve both constant and variable damping through the adjustment of the pre-pressure force in the spring. Compared with cases using CDVD, the VDVD demonstrates a significantly greater reduction in structural response, with cumulative dissipated energy ratios ranging from 1.0 to 3.14 as wind pressure increases. The VDVD offers excellent potential for various engineering applications in terms of new concepts and new devices for vibration control and mitigation induced by wind loadings.