Experimental Study On The Dynamic Behaviors Of Viscous Damping Wall

Viscous Damping Wall (VDW) is a new type of device for structural vibration energy dissipation. Compared with other dampers, VDW has its specific advantages such as the full utilization of space, the provision of larger damping force, the convenience of installation, and the low cost of maintenance and so on. VDW not only can be applied in the earthquake-reduction design of new buildings, but also be used in the aseismatic retrofitting of existing buildings. Furthermore, it is one of the perfect energy dissipation devices nowadays.Firstly, The principle of energy dissipation of VDW is discussed and primary influential factors are assessed. It can be concluded that the dissipation performance of VDW is related to the thickness of viscous material, the area of inner steel plate, vibration frequency, the environmental temperature and the properties of viscous materials, which is the most important factor among these and would be the focus discussed in this paper. Some experiments have been conducted to test the behavior of viscous damping materials. And therefore, the ideal viscous damping material is developed by means of Infared Spectrum experimentations and ARES tests which has been used in the model of VDW. Secondly, the dynamic performances of viscous damping material are studied. The dynamic performance indexes of VDW under different conditions are obtained and calculative formulas of damping force is educed, which can be employed in engineering application. Thirdly, modern control theory is introduced in the analysis of structures with VDW. By utilizing SIMULINK, a frame structure with VDW is analyzed and the dynamic responses of frame structure with VDW under earthquake are brought forward. Finally, SIMULINK design method, Graphical User Interfaces(GUI) and calculative examples are presented.The results in the study and experiments about VDW indicate that it has stable dynamic performance and powerful dissipation energy capability; On the other hand, the result of calculation also shows that it can reduce vibration responses of structure effectively. It is obvious that VDW is a kind of energy dissipation device with perfect performance and application prospect as well. The viscous damping material developed in the paper can be compared to the international congeneric production in the performances and can be used in practical engineering. Design of SIMULINK and GUI make it possible for the time-history analysis of structure with VDW is more intuitionistic, convenient, and therefore greatly enhance efficiency of calculation.