Negative stiffness friction damping for seismically isolated structures

Abstract

Research shown in this paper is focused on the development of an autonomous semi-active control laws as simplified semi-active control algorithms for seismic response reduction. The strategy of the methods is to produce desirable hysteretic loops to absorb as much energy as possible by semi-active devices. The control method requires information only on the device's displacement and velocity. The hysteretic loops produced by the semi-active control herein provide energy absorption capacity similar to those by friction dampers, while minimizing the disadvantages of the friction dampers, such as residual displacement after strong earthquakes and the generation of high-frequency in the damping forces. The structure used for numerical simulation is the benchmark problem for control of base-isolated buildings. The results show that the simplified control strategy is effective for a variety of ground motions. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.