Experimental study on torsional response of coupled vibration control structures with steel dampers

The response behaviour of coupled vibration control structures in the case of ground motions being input in a direction at a right angle to a line connecting the centres of gravity was investigated by conducting a shaking table test. Experiments were carried out by changing the period ratio and mass ratio of two coupled buildings, the yield strength of the damper and the input ground motion. Each building model used in the experiments was of a one mass system without any eccentricity. From the experiments, the following results were obtained. 1. Use of an appropriate damper can result in obtaining vibration control effects for the deformation of the building columns located at the greatest distance from the connecting point where a displacement which is larger than that at the centre of gravity occurs. 2. In the case of the torsional response, no strong correlation between the yield strength of the damper and the response reduction effects is seen. This is different from the relationship in the case of the translational vibration response.