| This thesis summarizes the design, construction and instrumentation of a 1/6 scale model of a steel structure typically used in commercial buildings in Puerto Rico, and the evaluation of methods to upgrade its performance when subjected to earthquake motions, based on the use of different combinations of a pulley device that dissipates energy through friction, and two auxiliary masses, allowed to impact with the ground. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed alternatives, Snap-Back Tests and Simulated Earthquake Tests were conducted on a SDOF system and on the scale model with and without the devices. Significant reductions in the accelerations and displacements of critical nodes of the scale model, and on the bending moments at the bottom of the central columns were produced when friction effects were fully developed, without collision of the auxiliary masses. |
