Investigating the effect of height ratio on the performance of adjacent buildings connected by viscous damper

In recent decades, by using new methods in the seismic control of buildings, many efforts have been made to reduce damages to structural and non-structural systems against earthquakes. One of the effective methods of reducing the seismic response of adjacent buildings is to connect these buildings with viscous dampers. In this research, the effects of the height ratio of buildings connected by viscous dampers as well as the parameters of viscous dampers in terms of drift reduction for such buildings have been investigated. For this purpose, an ۸-story RC moment-resisting frame was connected separately to six RC moment-resisting frame buildings with different heights, including ۳-, ۴-, ۵-, ۱۲-, ۱۴-, and ۱۶-story, by viscous dampers. By using nonlinear time history analysis, the effect of the mentioned parameters on reducing the response of buildings when connected by a viscous damper has been determined. The results show that by using a viscous damper in the connection of adjacent buildings, the response of buildings can be effectively reduced. Based on the results, the best performance in reducing the seismic responses of connected buildings was connecting buildings with a height ratio of ۰.۶۲۵ to ۰.۶۶. Also, the most suitable viscous damper for connecting adjacent buildings is the damper without stiffness and in the form of a single dashpot. In addition, the connection of adjacent buildings by viscous damper will have a better performance on the shorter building compared to the taller building in reducing the responses of the buildings.

Keywords:

Passive control , connected buildings , adjacent buildings , viscous damper , nonlinear time history analysis