Experiment and Simulation Study on Vibration Control of an Ancient Pagoda with Damping Devices

In order to choose an effective method for improving the seismic performance of an ancient pagoda called the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, 12 damping devices of varying properties are developed. They are made of shape memory alloy-suspension pendulum damping systems (SMA-SPDSs) based on the restoring force of the SMA wires. By means of the shaking table test, the frequency, equivalent damping and equivalent damping force of the SMA-SPDS are analyzed first to acquire their respective trend of influence. Then, four shock absorption plans (one without SMA-SPDS) are analyzed numerically, and the frequency, displacement and acceleration amplitude, inter-story displacement angle and inter-story shear force calculated are compared with those of the experiment. The results show that the shock absorption rate of Plan 3 is better than all the others, and the simulation results are in agreement with the corresponding experimental results, which also prove that the simulation presented in this paper is feasible, which can be used to verify the rationality and applicability of the device (SMA-SPDS). Therefore, it provides a theoretical means for conducting the strengthening and repairing work of the pagoda concerned.