NEHRP Clearinghouse

Title
Viscous Dampers: Testing, Modeling and Application in Vibration and Seismic Isolation.
File
PB91190561.pdf
Author(s)
Makris, N.; Constantinou, M. C.
Source
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC., December 20, 1990, 126 p.
Identifying Number(s)
NCEER-90-0028
Abstract
A fractional derivative Maxwell model is proposed for viscous dampers which are used for vibration isolation of piping systems, forging hammers and other industrial equipment, as well as for vibration and seismic isolation of building structures. The development and calibration of the model is based on experimentally observed dynamic characteristics. The proposed model is validated by dynamic testing and very good agreement between predicted and experimental results is obtained. Some analytical results for a single-degree-of-freedom viscodamper system are presented. These results are useful to the design of vibration isolation systems. Furthermore, an equivalent viscous oscillator is defined whose response is essentially the same as that of the viscodamper isolator. Finally, the model is employed in the analysis of a base-isolated model structure which has been tested on a shake table.
Keywords
Earthquake resistant structures; Piping systems; Test facilities; Structural vibration; Seismic waves; Mathematical models; Model tests; Viscous damping; Earthquake engineering; Vibration damping; Vibration isolators