Seismic response control of a building complex utilizing passive friction damper: Experimental investigation

Multi-storey main buildings constructed with a low-rise podium structure possess some architectural merits but the setback features of such a building complex may lead to seismic response enlargement of the main buildings. This paper explores the possibility of using passive friction dampers to connect the podium structure to the main buildings to prevent their seismic response enlargement without violating the architectural features. A series of shaking table tests were carried out on one 3-storey and one 12-storey building models in fully-separated, rigidly connected, and friction damper-linked configurations. Four sets of seismic ground motions were selected as inputs to the shaking table. The control competence of two buildings linked with friction damper was evaluated by comparison of their responses with those from fully-separated and rigidly connected cases. Experimental results showed that unfavourable seismic response amplification did occur in the building complex in the rigidly connected case. By contrast, friction damper showed effectiveness in reducing absolute acceleration and interstorey drift responses of both buildings if friction force level was appropriately applied.