Nonlinear Damping in Floor Vibrations Serviceability: Verification on a Laboratory Structure

Damping is a critical parameter in dynamics of structures which has been proven to be dependent on the amplitude of the applied force on the structure. This is known as nonlinear damping or amplitude-dependent damping. While the nonlinear characteristics of damping have been studied thoroughly for earthquake and wind loading excitations; it has not been comprehensively studied for floor vibration serviceability applications. This paper focuses on a laboratory structure in an attempt to shed some light on obtaining and verifying the modal damping ratio with experimental and analytical studies. Finite element models were built and updated per static and dynamic tests conducted in laboratory environment. The nonlinear damping behavior of the laboratory structure is verified for different amplitudes of sinusoidal excitations.