Yq. Ni et al., Random seismic response analysis of adjacent buildings coupled with non-linear hysteretic dampers, J SOUND VIB, 246(3), 2001, pp. 403-417
Coupling adjacent buildings with supplemental damping devices is a practica
l and, effective approach to mitigating structural seismic response. This p
aper is intended to develop a method for analyzing the random seismic respo
nse of a structural system consisting of two adjacent buildings interconnec
ted by non-linear hysteretic damping devices. By modelling the buildings as
multi-degree-of-freedom elastic structures and representing the hysteretic
dampers with the versatile Bouc-Wen (BW) differential model, an augmented
state differential equation is formulated to describe the vibration of the
coupled structural system under non-white random seismic excitation. After
dealing with the non-linear hysteretic dampers using stochastic linearizati
on technique, a non-linear algebraic Lyapunov equation is derived from whic
h the system mean square response is iteratively solved. The developed meth
od is applicable to the structural system with an arbitrary number of store
ys and with connecting dampers at arbitrary storeys. The results of the ana
lysis demonstrate that non-linear hysteretic dampers are effective even if
they are placed on a few floor levels. In particular, this type of damping
device offers a wideband vibration suppression for earthquake attacks with
either low- or high-dominant exciting frequencies. Parametric studies also
show that optimum damper parameters and numbers exist which minimize the ra
ndom seismic response. (C) 2001 Academic Press.