Use of silicon rubber as a viscoelastic material in dampers

Abstract

Abstract One of the most extensively utilized structural control devices is the viscoelastic damper (VD), and significant study has gone into enhancing their efficiency in structures. The mechanical response of a VD supplied with silicone rubber as viscoelastic material (SRD) under various loading conditions is investigated in this research. A conventional VD is the SRD, which is made up of dual layers of rubber mounted between three steel plates. A total of two specimens were produced. To evaluate the influence of strain amplitude and excitation frequency on the mechanical characteristics of SRD, each damper was exposed to harmonic loading with different values. Hysteretic loops for each loading case were extracted, and the variations of several mechanical parameters with the variated loading conditions were inspected. The results indicate that SRD has a high energy dissipation capacity, and has stable performance under different working conditions. Finally, a proper simplified element model was created using SAP2000 software to evaluate the dissipation characteristics and control impact of the SRD in structures, and then a time history analysis was executed on multi storey structure. Due to the obvious dampers’ extra stiffness and efficient damping property, the control impact of the SRD dampers on structural displacement is preferred and reflected on reducing the excessive displacement due to structure movement, according to data obtained.