A Comparative Study on Different Types of Passive Energy Dissipating Devices

Earthquake induced structural vibrations causes fatigue and reduction of performance of the tall steel framed structures. One of the effective ways for improving the seismic performance of a structure is the use of bracings, dampers and isolators. These devices change the stiffness and damping of the structures thereby reducing the seismic vibrations to a great extent. The main objective of this study is to compare the different types of passive energy dissipating devices in a 3 bay 10 storey steel frame building for better seismic response. The frame was modelled in SAP2000® and some of their responses to earthquake such as base shear, maximum joint displacement, inter storey drift were determined and compare during non-linear dynamic time history analysis in SAP2000®.The passive energy dissipating devices used in this study are diagonal bracing, v bracing, cross bracing, rubber base isolator and friction damper. At first a single storied shear frame model was tested in shake table and results obtained from SAP 2000® were compared. The close proximity validated the procedure. It is observed that addition of dampers to the system increases the stiffness to the frame. When compared, displacement for steel frame with dampers is reduced by 80% and that with different bracing systems are reduced up to 78% as compared to bare steel frame. For base isolators, base shear decreases up to 63.33% but an increase in the maximum joint displacement was observed. The comparison of performances of all types of dissipating mechanisms has been presented in the study.