Seismic design and evaluation of steel moment-resisting frames with compressed elastomer dampers

This paper evaluates the hysteretic behavior of an innovative compressed elastomer structural damper and its applicability to seismic-resistant design of steel moment-resisting frames (MRFs). The damper is constructed by precompressing a high-damping elastomeric material into steel tubes. This innovative construction results in viscous-like damping under small strains and friction-like damping under large strains. A rate-dependent hysteretic model for the compressed elastomer damper, formed from a parallel combination of a modified BoucWen model and a non-linear dashpot is presented. The model is calibrated using test data obtained under sinusoidal loading at different amplitudes and frequencies. This model is incorporated in the OpenSees [17] computer program for use in seismic response analyses of steel MRF buildings with compressed elastomer dampers. A simplified design procedure was used to design seven different systems of steel MRFs combined with compressed elastomer dampers in which the properties of the MRFs and dampers were varied. The combined systems are designed to achieve performance, which is similar to or better than the performance of conventional steel MRFs designed according to current seismic codes. Based on the results of nonlinear seismic response analyses, under both the design basis earthquake and the maximum considered earthquake, target properties for a new generation of compressed elastomer dampers are defined. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.