Parametric study on response of multi-storied building equipped with viscous and visco-elastic dampers subjected to ground motions.

Viscous and viscoelastic dampers are passive energy dissipation devices that are used in multi storied buildings to reduce the effect of lateral vibrations arising from earthquakes and wind. Passive devices are those that require no energy to function. The performance of such devices can be affected by many factors like seismic zone, building height, soil type and placement of dampers. In this paper, the effect of using viscous and visco-elastic dampers on response of multi-story building was investigated. For this purpose, multi-story building was modelled in Finite element software. Various parameters like height of building, seismic zone, soil type and placement of dampers were varied in the FEM model. To investigate the seismic response, non-linear time history analysis was performed by subjecting the building to ground motion (Imperial Valley 1940). Seismic responses of the models were studied and compared in terms of results like top floor (roof) displacement, storey drift and ground floor level (base) shear. It was found that viscous dampers are more effective in dissipating energy. Optimum position of dampers was also found out. All the parametric results were obtained and plotted in graphs.