Theoretical and experimental assessment of parameters for the non-linear viscoelastic model of structural pounding

Impacts between adjacent structures during earthquakes have been recently intensively studied with the help of different models of the impact force. It has been verified through comparisons that the non-linear viscoelastic model is the most accurate one among them. One of the aims of the present paper is to derive a formula relating the impact damping ratio, as a parameter of the non-linear viscoelastic model, with a more widely used coefficient of restitution. Another aim is to determine the range of the coefficients of restitution and the impact stiffness parameters for different building materials, such as: steel, concrete, timber and ceramics, based on the results of an impact experiment. Both aims are new and original elements of the study in the field of earthquake-induced structural pounding. The results of the analysis show a wide range of the model parameters obtained for various prior-impact velocity and mass values. The use of these parametric values in numerical simulations allows us to study the behaviour of colliding structures with the increased accuracy.