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A DAMPING SYSTEM THAT IS EFFECTIVE IN A

BROAD RANGE OF DISPLACEMENT USING
STEEL DAMPER AND VISCOELASTIC DAMPER
IN SERIES
CONFERENCE PAPER JULY 2004

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A DAMPING SYSTEM THAT IS EFFECTIVE IN A BROAD RANGE OF

DISPLACEMENT USING STEEL DAMPER AND VISCOELASTIC DAMPER IN
SERIES
Masashi YAMAMOTO, Research and Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation
1-5-1, Ohtsuka, Inzai, Chiba 270-1395, JAPAN
Email: yamamoto.masashia@takenaka.co.jp
Masahiko HIGASHINO, Research and Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation
1-5-1, Ohtsuka, Inzai, Chiba 270-1395, JAPAN
Email: higashino.masahiko@takenaka.co.jp
Takayuki SONE, Research and Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation
1-5-1, Ohtsuka, Inzai, Chiba 270-1395, JAPAN
Email: sone.takayuki@takenaka.co.jp
Keywords: steel damper, viscoelastic damper, full-scale test, small vibration

SUMMARY
A damping system that is effective in a wide range of displacement is proposed. This is a serial connection of a
steel damper and a viscoelastic damper with stopper pins. Dynamic loading tests of this system were conducted
using full-scale test models. The results demonstrated that the damper system had 10% damping ratio even in an
extremely small interstory drift as 0.1mm. Viscoelastic damper with one pin stopper deformed more than the
designed value because of rotation, however, damper with two pin stoppers was stiffly constrained by the pins.
The measured dynamic characteristics corresponded with those designed value for both small vibration level and
large vibration level. A twenty-storied steel frame that is a theme structure presented by Japan Society of Seismic
Isolation is used to confirm the control performance of the damper system based on the test results. The damper
system proposed here was applied with replacing a half of conventional steel damper braces by them. It was
shown that this system reduced the maximum acceleration and the maximum interstory drift angle during a small
excitation to 60%, respectively. For a large excitation, responses were slightly reduced by proposed damping
system, or at least equivalent.

1. INTRODUCTION
Steel dampers are practical structural control devices
that provide large damping force by small volume
and cost. These dampers are widely used to absorb
seismic energy and suppress the deformation of the
building under large earthquakes. However, steel
dampers are not effective for small vibrations such
caused by frequently occurred strong winds, because
they remain elastic under small vibrations.
Damping systems that are effective in a wide
range of vibration amplitude have been studied and
developed in recent years [e.g. Teramoto and Kasai,
1999]. Basically, these systems consist of an
elasto-plastic damper (plastic portion) and a viscous
or viscoelastic damper (viscous portion). The plastic
portion is for large displacements such caused by
large earthquakes. The viscous portion is for small
vibrations such caused by strong winds.
Parallel connections of the both portions require
large allowable deformation for viscous portion and
are not efficient in a range of small displacement.

While, series connections require large allowable

force for viscous portion as large as that for plastic
portion.
The authors took account of the performance
under small vibration and applied series connection
to the system. For the viscous portion, stopper pins
were adopted in order to bear the large force
transferred from plastic portion and to restrict the
deformation of viscous portion, which enable to make
the viscous portion small and efficient.
Full-scale test models were assembled and loaded
dynamically to verify the damping performances. The
results of these tests will be shown.
By making use of the test results, control
performance in a building structure was analytically
examined. This result will be also shown.
2. FULL-SCALE TEST
In this study, a brace-type steel damper with a
covered tube that stiffens and prevents buckling was
used as plastic portion. A viscoelastic damper with

stopper pins was used as viscous portion. These

dampers are connected in series.
The members of test models are shown in Fig. 1.
The steel damper is H-shape steel (H-100x100;
SS400 [JIS]) stiffened by a box tube.
The viscoelastic damper arises damping force by
shear deformation. A unit of this damper has two
layers of press-vulcanized rubbers adhered to steel
plates. Five units, then totally ten layers, were
assembled unify by high-tension bolts as shown in
Fig. 2. The material of the rubber is newly developed
one whose characteristics less depends on
temperature [Ishikawa, et al., 2003].
In the center of this damper, stopper pins
penetrate across these damping layers. There is a
clearance of 1.5mm between the pin and the case,
that is, diameter of the case is larger than that of the
pin by 3.0mm. The rubber is filled in the clearance to
soften strike shocks. The maximum deformation of
the viscoelastic damper is then restricted less than
3.0mm(0-p). Two types of dampers were designed.
'One pin' and 'Two pins' in the following sections
mean the damper with one pin and the damper with
two pins, respectively.
Experimental set up is shown in Fig. 3. A loading
beam is supported by four flat plates that constrain
the movement except in the axial direction of the

loading beam.
The force on the damper system is measured by
the load cell attached to the actuator, compensating
with restoring force of the flat plates and inertia force
of the loading beam.
3. TEST RESULTS
Figure 4 shows the relationship between interstory
drift and interstory shear force during small
sinusoidal excitation whose period is 2.5s. It is
observed that there exists adequate damping (10%)
from extremely small interstory displacement as
0.1mm that corresponds to 1/20,000 of interstory drift
angle. The differences that depend on the number of
the stopper pins are negligible in this displacement
level. Thick broken lines in the figures show the
designed stiffness. The stiffness of viscoelastic
damper was calculated according to the parameters
derived by test results of dampers made of the same
material [Ishikawa, et al., 2003]. The results agree
with designed stiffness well.
Figure 5 shows the test results during sinusoidal
excitation whose period is 4.0s and whose amplitude
is gradually increased until interstory drift angle is
about 1/80.
Figure 5(a) shows the relationship between axial
displacement of the steel damper and the axial force

BOX-120x120x9

H-100x100x6x8SS400[JIS]
1,414

(a) Steel Damper

550

Figure 2 Viscoelastic Damper with Two Pins

Elastomer(200 x 290 x t2)

pin(50)

Load Cell

Steel Damper
(Plastic Portion)

Viscoelastic Damper
(Viscous Portion)

(b) Viscoelastic Damper with One Pin

550

Loading Beam
280

Elastomer(200 x 290 x t2)

1,000kN
Actuator

Flat Plate
2-pins(35)

Approx.
2.1m

Test
Specimen

(c) Viscoelastic Damper with Two Pins

Figure 1 Test Models

Figure 3 Experimental Setup

converted from interstory shear force. Figure 5(b)

shows the relationship between axial displacement of
the viscoelastic damper and the axial force. Figure
5(c) shows the relationship between interstory drift
and interstory shear force. Thick broken lines in Fig.
5(a), Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 5(c) show the initial stiffness
of steel damper, skeleton curve of viscoelastic
damper (without the stopper pin), and skeleton curve
calculated by connecting previous two values in
series, respectively. Yield load (610kN) based on
material sample testing is also plotted in Fig. 5(a).

Figure 5(a) demonstrates that the measured initial

stiffness correspond well to the designed value.
Figure 5(b) demonstrates that the maximum
deformation of viscoelastic damper was restricted to
4.5mm(0-p) for 'One pin' and 2.0mm(0-p) for 'Two
pins'. However, the maximum deformation of 'One
pin' model was larger than designed value (3.0mm),
which seems to be caused by a rotation of the
viscoelastic damper. The dynamic characteristics of
viscoelastic damper correspond to designed value for
both 'One pin' and 'Two pins'.

Interstory

Interstory

Shear

Shear

Force

Force

(kN)

(kN)
One pin

Two pins

Interstory drift (mm)

Interstory drift (mm)

Figure 4 Hysteresis Loop under Small Excitations (Interstory Relationship)

610kN

610kN

Axial

Axial

Force

Force

(kN)

(kN)
One pin

Two pins
Axial displacement (mm)

Axial displacement (mm)

(a) Steel Damper

4.5mm2

2.0mm2

Axial

Axial

Force

Force

(kN)

(kN)
One pin

Two pins

Axial displacement (mm)

Axial displacement (mm)

(b) Viscoelastic Damper

Interstory

Interstory

Shear

Shear

Force

Force

(kN)

(kN)
One pin
Interstory drift (mm)

Two pins
Interstory drift (mm)

(c) Interstory Relationship

Figure 5 Hysteresis Loop under Large Excitations

Figure 5(c) demonstrates that this damping

system shows a peanuts shape of hysteresis loop that
dents around X-axis.
4. ANALYTICAL MODELS
Dynamic characteristics of the proposed damper
system were confirmed and defined by the full-scale
tests described in the previous section. Based on
these results, control performance on a building
structure will be discussed in this section.
4.1 Structural
Controlled
Building
with
Conventional Steel Damper Braces
Theme structures for designing structural control
system were proposed by Japan Society of Seismic
Isolation [Ohbuchi, et al., 2002]. Among these, the
twenty-storied steel frame that modeled by a lumped
mass model with equivalent shear spring is used as
the main frame in this paper. The height of the
building is 82m. The first natural period of the main
frame is relatively long as 3.71s, because this frame
presupposes that structural control system should be
added. Damping of the main frame is assumed to be
2%.
Steel damper brace system was designed with
applying the design method proposed by professor
Kasai [Kasai, 2003]. This method requires an
assumed earthquake. The Level 2 artificial
earthquake ground motion by the Building Center of
Japan (BCJ-L2) was assumed in this paper. Other
values of parameters used in this method are listed in
Table 1. The designed sections of steel damper braces
are listed in Table 2.

Normal bi-linear model is used to simulate a steel

damper braces. The first natural period of the frame
with these braces is 2.50s for the initial stiffness. This
model will be referred as 'BR model'.
4.2 Proposed Damper System
Roughly half of the steel damper braces were
replaced by the proposed damper system. The exact
quantity of the damper and configurations of
viscoelastic dampers are listed in Table 2 and Table 3,
respectively. This model will be referred as 'BB
model'.
Two analytical models are used to simulate the
proposed damper system depending on vibration
level. For small vibration level that the displacement
of viscoelastic damper is less than 2mm, viscoelastic
damper is modeled as Kelvin-Voigt model, and
connect it to steel damper model in series. In this
vibration level, the stopper pin does not work.
When the stopper pin works, viscoelastic damper
happen to raise impulsive velocity. Kelvin-Voigt
model overestimates the damping performance.
Hence, viscoelastic damper is modeled as normal
tri-linear model that independent to velocity. Then
viscous portion is modeled as the parallel connection
of the above viscoelastic model and the stopper pin
modeled as a multi-linear spring. The overall model
is illustrated in Fig. 6. The first natural period of this
model is 2.66s.
5. RESULTS OF SIMULATION ANALYSIS
Simulation analysis was conducted applying the
NEWMARK- method (=1/4). Time step of

Table 1 Parameters used to Design Steel Damper Braces

Story

Story Height
(mm)

220

4,000

6,000

Initial Stiffness Ratio

Span Target Story Ductility Factor
of the Brace Damper System
(mm) Drift Angle of the System
to the Main Frame
6,400

1/120

1.19

Steel
Type

Rigid Portion
Reinforce Ratio for
Length (mm) Transfer Portion to be Elastic
755

LY225

2.5

877

Table 2 Members of Structural Control System

Story
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Section of
Steel Damper

BB Model

BR Model
Convensional
Steel Damper Brace

Convensional
Steel Damper Brace

Proposed
Damper System

4
2

H-125125

H-150150
H-175175
H-150150
4

H-175175

H-150150
H-175175

integration was 0.01s except 'BB model' under large

excitation, in which time step was 0.0005s.
5.1 Response under Small Excitation
An earthquake record observed at Takenaka R&D
institute (Inzai, Chiba) on May 26, 2003 was used as
the ground motion for small excitation. The epicenter
of this earthquake is about 350km away from the
observation point. The viscoelastic damper of 'BB
model' is Kelvin-Voigt model whose stiffness and
damping coefficient was estimated to be equivalent to
those during deformation of 0.5mm. According to the
complex eigenvalue analysis, the equivalent damping
factor of first mode of 'BB model' is larger than that
of 'BR model' by 3%.
Figure 7 shows the maximum acceleration and the
maximum interstory drift angle of the both models.
'BB model' reduces its response to 60% of 'BR model'.
The deformation of viscoelastic damper is around
0.5mm, which is equivalent to that the analytical
model assumed.
Figure 8 shows acceleration waveforms of the top
floor. Acceleration of 'BB model' is smaller than that
of 'BR model' throughout the record.
5.2 Response under Large Excitation
The BCJ-L2 wave was used as the ground motion for
large excitation.
Figure 9 shows the maximum acceleration and the
maximum interstory drift angle of the both models.
The responses of 'BB model' are slightly small or
equivalent to those of 'BR model'.
Figure 10 shows the hysteresis loops of the
damper system at fifteenth floor. Figure 10(a) shows
the relationship between axial displacement of the
viscoelastic damper and the axial force. Figure 10(b)
Table 3 Configurations of Viscoelastic Dampers
Section of
Elastomer Size Thickness Number of
Corresponding Steel Damper
mmmm
mm
Layers
H-175175
H-150150
H-125125

200340
200280
200280

(i+1)th Mass

2
2
2

8
8
6

Proposed
Damper System
Steel Damper

Steel Damper

Main Frame

Viscoelastic
Damper

Stopper

i th Mass

Figure 6 Analytical Diagram of Overall Model

shows the relationship between interstory drift and

interstory shear force.
These loops are similar to those obtained by the
dynamic loading tests.
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Full-scale test was conducted on the proposed
damping system. It was observed that deformation of
viscous portion of 'One pin' is larger than designed
value because of its rotation. Except that, the test
results have good agreement with designed values.
During the tests, there was not any impulsive sound.
Though the stopper pins bore the maximum force of
1,000kN, the pins were intact.
Simulation analysis was conducted based on the
test results, which demonstrated the expected results
as follows:
1) For a small excitation, responses were reduced
by proposed damping system.
2) For a large excitation, responses were slightly
reduced by proposed damping system, or at
least equivalent to the conventional damper
brace.
Therefore, the damping system proposed here is able
to reduce responses of structures from small
vibrations level to large vibration levels.
7. REFERENCES
Ikahata, N., Iiyama, F., Tamura, I., Hasimoto, Y.,
Nishimura, K and Arai, T. (1999), "Design of
building with seismic control system by
Maxwell-type hybrid viscous elasto-plastic
damper", Summaries of technical papers of annual
meeting, Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ), B-2,
pp.1025-1028, in Japanese.
Ishikawa, K., Muramatsu, Y., Misu, M., Yamamoto,
M. and Yoshida, K. (2003), "Development of a
visco-elastic damper for a building isolation system
that constrains its displacement, Part 2:
Performance test of new visco-elastic material
using scale down test piece", Summaries of
technical papers of annual meeting, AIJ, B-2,
pp.579-580, in Japanese.
Kasai, K., et al. (2003), Design and Construction
Manual of Passive Control, Japan Society of
Seismic Isolation.
Kimura, Y., Narihara, H., Maseki, R. and Isshiki, J.
(2003), "Development of hybrid energy dissipation
system combined elasto-plastic damper and
visco-elastic damper, Part 4 and 5", Summaries of
technical papers of annual meeting, AIJ, B-2,
pp.829-832, in Japanese.
Ohbuchi, T., Mori, H., Yoshie, K., Hara, H., Arima, F.,
Takeuchi, Y., Saitou, Y., Ishi, M. and Kasai, K.
(2002), "Proposed theme structure and analytical
modeling study for passive control system",
Proceedings of 2002 Passive Control Symposium,
pp.195-204, in Japanese.

Teramoto, M. and Kasai, K. (1999), "Effectiveness of

a damper combining viscoelastic and elastoplastic
device in series, Part 1 and 2", Summaries of
technical papers of annual meeting, AIJ, B-2,
pp.975-978, in Japanese.

Watanabe, A., Saeki, E. and Suzuki, K. (1999),

"Experimental study of steel dampers in
combination
with
visco-elastic
material",
Summaries of technical papers of annual meeting,
AIJ, B-2, pp.1021-1022, in Japanese.

RR
21

RR
21

17

17

BR

13

Story

Story

BR
9

13

BB

BB

1
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

Acceleration (m/s2 )

10

Interstory Drift Angle (x10-4)

Figure 7 Acceleration and Interstory Drift Angle under a Small Excitation

0.3

BR model

0.2
0.1

Acceleration

BB model

of Top Floor

-0.1
-0.2

(m/s2)

-0.3
0

40

80
Time (s)

120

160

Figure 8 Acceleration Waveforms under a Small Vibration

21
RR

RR
21

17

17

BB

13

BR

13

Story

Story

BB

BR

1
0

Acceleration (m/s2 )

10

Interstory Drift Angle (x10-3)

Figure 9 Acceleration and Interstory Drift Angle under a Large Excitation

800

800

400

Axial
Force
(kN)

400

Interstory
Shear
Force
(kN)

0
-400
-800

0
-400
-800

-10

-5

Axial Displacement of
Viscoelastic Damper (mm)

(a) Viscoelastic Damper

10

-40

-20

20

Interstory Drift (mm)

(b) Interstory Relationship

Figure 10 Hysteresis Loops under a Large Excitation

40