Seismic Assessment and Optimal Design for Structures with Clutching Inerter Dampers

Abstract

Clutching inerter damper (CID) is an innovative damping device with inherent nonlinearity. In this paper, the description of the CID system is firstly made followed by the analyses of free vibration and harmonic response. Secondly, the equivalent linearization method (ELM) based on statistical linearization is studied to linearize the CID system. Thirdly, the layout of the CID in a multidegree-of-freedom (MDOF) structure is discussed and the ELM is extended to the MDOF structure based on modal reconstruction. Finally, the spectra-based seismic assessment and performance design are discussed via the equivalent linearization system (ELS), which proves to be a simplified way for the assessment and design of structures with CID. Results have shown that the ELS is accurate and convenient to approximate the CID system, and it is suggested that the CID should be mounted in the weak layers of the MDOF structure.