2011/MT/IITK/113 Full Scale Testing For Seismic Upgradation of Open Ground Storey RC Buildings Using Aluminium Shear-Yielding Damper

[Kaustubh Ashokkumar Mehta; September 2011; Supervised by Durgesh C. Rai] Open ground storey (OGS) buildings have consistently shown poor performance in the past earthquakes which makes it imperative to prevent such failures in the new as well as old OGS buildings. The present study focuses on the effectiveness of the Aluminium Shear-Yielding Damper (ALSYD) used for the strengthening of the OGS RC buildings using a full scale model of a part of the study building. The ALSYD employs metallic hysteresis to dissipate the earthquake energy input for a structural system such as the OGS frames. Energy based methodology was used for the design of ALSYD for strengthening OGS frames. The configuration of the study building was chosen in a way to accommodate and successfully test its full scale single storey-single bay strengthened by ALSYD. The designed ALSYD frame was subjected to pushover and response history analysis in SAP 2000. The ALSYD frame had higher load carrying capacity and performed well under the selected ground motions on comparison with the OGS frame. The slow cyclic displacement loading history for the ALSYD frame was derived from FEMA 461. Primarily, three major tests were performed namely: ALSYD-1 (Phase I), ALSYD-1 (Phase II) and ALSYD-2 frame tests depending on the use of ALSYD units 1 and 2. The results showed a stable and non-pinched hysteretic response of the ALSYD frames up to the desired drift level. The ALSYD frames exhibited very good strain hardening behaviour due to the presence of the ALSYD units. Ultimate shear strains of 18 % and 19 % were observed in case of ALSYD-1 and ALSYD-2 unit, respectively. Hysteretic damping values evaluated for the ALSYD-1 (Phase II) and ALSYD-2 frames were 16% and 17%, respectively. The behaviour of the ALSYD-1 (Phase II) and ALSYD-2 frames were similar suggesting consistent reliable performance. An analytical model of the test ALSYD frame, made in OpenSees, was able to simulate the hysteretic behaviour of ALSYD frame under cyclic displacement loading.