State of the Art in Multi-Stage Energy-Dissipating Dampers and Their Seismic Performance

Dampers are key energy-dissipating components in structural seismic systems. They can effectively dissipate seismic energy, control structural dynamic responses, and mitigate damage to primary structural members. Thus, they play an important role in improving structural seismic resilience and mitigating seismic hazards. By integrating multiple units with different yield thresholds or energy-dissipating mechanisms, multi-stage energy-dissipating dampers realize sequentially activated energy dissipation under varying seismic intensities and spectral characteristics. They broaden the energy dissipation range under varying seismic intensities and enhance cyclic stability and fatigue resistance. They provide an effective technical approach to overcome the inherent limitations of traditional single-stage dampers, such as insufficient energy dissipation capacity and poor cyclic fatigue performance. This study systematically reviews the recent research progress on multi-stage energy-dissipating dampers, focusing on the structural configurations and seismic performance studies of four typical types: stage-yielding metallic dampers, stage-friction dampers, metal-friction hybrid dampers, and metal-viscoelastic hybrid dampers. Relevant numerical simulation and experimental research results are summarized, and the key issues that require further in-depth exploration in this field are prospected.