Temperature Effect of Viscoelastic Dampers during Earthquakes

Abstract

Viscoelastic dampers have been adopted for improving the seismic resistance of structures. One of the major difficulties is the modeling of the temperature effect of dampers on the structural responses during earthquakes. This paper is aimed at the influence of the temperature on the energy‐absorbing features of the viscoelastic dampers. Not only the capacity of the energy dissipation but also the stiffness of the dampers are dependent on ambient temperatures. That leads to quite different behavior of the structure at different temperature levels while the viscoelastic dampers are added to the structure. In this study the behavior of a 10‐story building equipped with viscoelastic dampers is examined while it is subjected to earthquake ground motions. Numerical results show that the energy‐absorbing capacity and stiffness of the viscoelastic damper decreases with increasing the ambient temperature. The responses, including displacements and stresses, of the given examples are significantly reduced while viscoelastic dampers are added to it. The efficiency of the added dampers on the reduction of the structural responses decreases at higher temperatures.