1. INTRODUCTION

During earthquake, high energy is produced and it greatly affects the structure although
the lateral forces could be reduced by the use of dampers. The energy is applied in the
form of kinetic energy or potential energy to the structures and is absorbed and gradually
spreads. The vibration will be continuous if the structure is free from damping and in the
case of structures with damping, the vibration is reduced. Equation for the input energy
caused by the earthquake to the structure is:-

E = E K+ ES+ Eh + Ed

Here in the equation,

E – earthquake input energy

Ek – kinetic energy

Es – reversible strain energy in the elastic range

Eh – amount of wasted energy due to inelastic deformation

Ed – amount of amortized energy by additional damper

Use of energy dissipation system allocates a special place in the seismic isolation system.
Damping can be done by various methods such as flow of soft metal, friction of two
metals on each other and a piston motion in a slimy substance or viscoelastic behavior in
materials such as rubber like substances. Increased damping reduces the acceleration and
displacement of the structure due to earthquakes. Low frequency damping have no effect
on the amount of spectrum of high frequency and it has negligible effect on acceleration
and displacement of the structure due to earthquakes.

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2. TYPES OF DAMPERS

Mainly the dampers are classified in the basis of their performance of friction, metal
damper, viscus, viscoelastic, shape memory alloys and mass dampers. Advantages of
using these dampers are that they having high energy absorbance, they are easy to install
and they are also easy to replace as well as coordination to other structure members.

2.1 Friction dampers

The frictional damping is one of the most effective damping method for dissipating the
seismic energy. These dampers are installed in parallel to bracing.in this dampers, the
seismic energy is spent in overcoming friction in the contact surfaces. and their
performance independent to loading velocity and ambient temperature. The main widely
used friction dampers are PVD dampers and pall friction damper

2.1.1 PVD damper

It is a type of friction damper which is widely used damper in structures because of its
easiness in the installation process. For the flexible structures such as bending steel frame,
the PVD dampers are used for the necessary damping or to provide effective damping to
relative stiffness of structures. PVD damper is designed for the installation where in the
cases of displacement can be generate quick or necessary damping such as installation of
concrete moment frame or metal skeleton brace.

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Fig:1 PVD damper

PVD dampers are designed in the basis of lead plastic deformation such as lead rubber
bearing. For rubber lead bearing, the created damping force by lead is less than elastic
force related to rubber, while for PVD damper, damping force of lead is much greater
than rubber elastic force. Now, PVD damper is used as an effective damper in many
buildings, bridges, towers ect..

Fig:2 PVD damper

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Advantages of PVD dampers are :-

 In the case of low displacements, this damper acts very effectively.

 PVD dosen;t need any maintenance.
 It dose not have any winder components or lubricant components.
 Behavior of the PVD damper is almost same as that of the behavior of the metal
damper

2.1.2 Pall friction damper

Pall friction damper is another type of friction damper. This damper consist of bracing
and steel plates with friction screws. And this damper is installed at the middle portion of
the bracing.these steel plate are connected to each other. For making the connections
better here we use high bolts and have a slip by certain forces to each other.

Fig:3 pall friction damper

2.2 Metallic dampers

In the metallic damper, the energy transferred to the structure is spent to submission and
non-linear behavior in used elements of damper. And in the metallic dampers, inelastic
deformation of metal is used. For the formability, the metals such as steel and lead is used
for the energy dissipation. The use of submission metallic dampers are most commonly

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done in the braces. Some parallel steel plates are using to create the submission metallic
damper. It undertakes the role of absorption and energy dissipation in combination with
a bracing system. In the structure this part will act as a fuse.

Fig:4 metallic damper

This is an X-shaped damper which is having a significant performance. The unique

features of this type of dampers are that the massive submission on steel volume provides
extraordinary energy dissipation and hysteretic damping. So, this type of dampers are
entitled as Added Damping And Stiffness (ADAS).

2.2.1 Lead injection damper (LED)

This damper is made of a two-chamber cylinder, piston and lead inside piston. And by
piston moving during earthquake, lead moves from larger chamber to smaller chamber.
And with plastic deformation, the kinetic energy is wasted as heat.

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Fig:5 LED

2.4 Viscous dampers

In the viscous damper the energy is dissipated by using viscous fluid inside a cylender.
Due to ease of installation, adaptability and coordination with other members also
diversity in their sizes, viscous dampers have many applications in designing and
retrofitting.

This type of dampers are connected to the structure in three ways:

-damper installation in the floor or foundation ( in the method of seismic isolation)

-connecting dampers in stern pericardial braces

-damper installation in diagonal braces.

In connecting dampers on the floor or foundation of structures, we can use a combination

of dampers with isolators.

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Fig:6 viscous damper

2.5 Mass dampers

Mass is placed on a fulcrum which acts as a roller. And it allows to mass with move as a
transfer-lateral movement to the floor. Springs and dampers are placed between mass and
anchor members to the floor and frame and they are placed relative in “opposite phase”
and sometimes are adjacent vertical. And these anchor members transmits structural
lateral force. Bidirectional transfer dampers are made as a spring-damper in two vertical
directions. And they provide controlling the structure movement in two vertical
structures.

2.5.1 Tuned mass damper TMD

TMD is a passive damper which was created in 1970s in America and 1990s in Japan
only to dealing with wind and created seismic in structures such as created stomp and
oscillation and they were used by peoples that they can respond for small earthquakes.
And then, in Japan, Active +TMD systems such as SATMD, HMD AMD, APTMD were
considered for strong earthquakes.

From the above studies I get that the friction damper is the most effective and most widely
using damper.

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3. COMPONENTS OF FRICTION DAMPER AND ITS

PRINCIPLE OF ACTION

The main components of the friction damper are the vertical central plate, two horizontal
side plates and two circular friction pad discs placed between the steel plates as shown in
the Fig.7 . The central plate has length ha and is attached to the girder mid-span in a frame
structure by a hinge. The hinge connection is meant to increase the amount of relative
rotation between the central and side plates, which in turn enhances the energy dissipation
in the system. The ends of the two side plates are connected to the members of inverted
V-brace at a distance r from the FDD centre. The bracing makes use of pre-tensioned bars
in order to avoid compression stresses and subsequent buckling. The bracing bars are pin-
connected at both ends to the damper and to the column bases.

The combination of two side plates and one central plate increases the frictional surface
area and provides symmetry needed for obtaining plane action of the device. A
pretightened bolt connects the three plates of the damper to each other. This adjustable
bolt is used to control the compression force applied on the interfaces of the friction pad
discs and steel plates. In order to maintain a constant clamping force, several discs spring
washers (Belleville washers) are used. Hardened washers are placed between these
springs and the steel plates to prevent any marks on steel surface caused by the spring
washers when they are under compression. Steel grade S235 was used for the device
plates. In order to reflect the current fabricating practices and simulate industry standards,
local structural steel fabricators manufactured all of the steel specimens and no special
attempt was made to control the flatness or the dimensions of the damper. When a lateral
force excites a frame structure, the girder tends to displace horizontally. The bracing
system and the forces of friction developed at the interface of the steel plates and friction
pads will resist the horizontal motion. Fig. 8 explains the functioning of the FDD under
excitation. As is shown, the device is very simple in its components and can be arranged
within different bracing configurations to obtain a complete damping system.

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Fig:7 components of friction damper

Fig:8 principle of action of friction factor

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4. CONCLUSION

In my paper, I investigated the types of dampers and their performances during

earthquakes. Now it is clear that the dampers has an acceptable behavior against lateral
forces like earthquakes and wind forces and the dampers will reduce the construction
limitations of the buildings have multi-storey. Here I discussed the different types of
dampers based on their performance of friction, mass dampers, metallic dampers, viscous
and viscoelastic dampers. At last I come to a conclusion that the most widely using
damper is friction dampers and the friction dampers consist of the dampers called PVD
damper and Pall Friction Damper. The friction damper allow the buildings to move
elastically and dissipate the energy of the earthquake. Moreover it produces substantial
savings as structural elements can be optimized for cost savings.

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5. REFERENCE

1. Robert. D. Hanson, TSU T. Soong; “Seismic design with supplemental energy

dissipation devices” published by Earthquake Engineering Research Institute,145-
156(2003)

2. Trevor E Kelly Holmes Consulting Group, Damper Design Guidelines, (2001)

3. Journal of the seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings 360-2006 instructions

“Department of Engineering Management and Planning”,(2006)

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