Optimizing Viscous Damper Placement with Element Exchange Method and Energy-Based Distribution Methods for Building Structures

Viscous dampers enhance the seismic performance of buildings by increasing the capacity for damping. It remains a challenge to decide on the optimum placement for the added dampers and it has been a continuing subject of research. In this paper, Element Exchange Method and energy-based distribution methods are proposed. The proposed methods are compared against currently available methods through case studies. The case studies are based on a two-dimensional ten-story shear building adopting different nonlinearity of viscous dampers and a three-dimensional steel moment-resisting-frame (MRF) building with varying plan asymmetry. The methods then automatically develop damper placement schemes, and subsequently, the buildings are evaluated for their maximum peak inter-story drift against a suite of ground motions. The result shows that Element Exchange methods and energy-based distribution methods can successfully reduce maximum peak inter-story drift over all case studies.