Estimation of Additional Equivalent Damping Ratio of the Damped Structure Based on Energy Dissipation

Abstract

In the design of damped structures, the additional equivalent damping ratio (EDR) is an important factor in the evaluation of the energy dissipation effect. However, previous additional EDR estimation methods are complicated and not easy to be applied in practical engineering. Therefore, in this study, a method based on energy dissipation is developed to simplify the estimation of the additional EDR. First, an energy governing equation is established to calculate the structural energy dissipation. By means of dynamic analysis, the ratio of the energy consumed by dampers to that consumed by structural inherent damping is obtained under external excitation. Because the energy dissipation capacity of the installed dampers is reflected by the additional EDR, the abovementioned ratio can be used to estimate the additional EDR of the damped structure. Energy dissipation varies with time, which indicates that the ratio is related to the duration of ground motion. Hence, the energy dissipation during the most intensive period in the entire seismic motion duration is used to calculate the additional EDR. Accordingly, the procedure of the proposed method is presented. The feasibility of this method is verified by using a single-degree-of-freedom system. Then, a benchmark structure with dampers is adopted to illustrate the usefulness of this method in practical engineering applications. In conclusion, the proposed method is not only explicit in the theoretical concept and convenient in application but also reflects the time-varying characteristic of additional EDR, which possesses the value in practical engineering.