Experiments on Steel MRF Building with Supplemental Tendon System

An experimental and analytical study is presented that investigates the effectiveness of a supplemental damping system consisting of elastomeric spring dampers (ESD) and fuse-bars to mitigate the seismic response of steel structures. Steel structures generally possess significant flexibility and relatively low inherent viscous damping. Under strong earthquake ground shaking, large interstory drifts can be expected which in turn cause distress to both structural and nonstructural elements. In this study, a load-balancing tendon fuse+damper (TFD) system has been adopted, where sacrificial yielding fuse-bars are used parallel to ESD devices to initially help stiffen the structure. A total of seven different configurations were tested with various bracing as well as supplemental damping systems. It was both experimentally observed and analytically shown that the proposed supplemental tendon system significantly attenuates the overall seismic response of the structure. An improved velocity-dependent computational model for the ESD devices is presented and verified. Hence, benefits of using a load balancing–draped tendon profile are analytically investigated.