Experimental and numerical study on hysteretic performance of SMA spring-friction bearings

This paper presents an experimental and numerical study to investigate the hysteretic performance of a new type of isolator consisting of shape memory alloy springs and friction bearing called an SMA spring-friction bearing （SFB）. The SFB is a sliding-type isolator with SMA devices used for the seismic protection of engineering structures. The principle of operation of the isolation bearing is introduced. In order to explore the possibility of applying SMA elements in passive seismic control devices, large diameter superelastic tension/compression NiTi SMA helical springs used in the SFB isolator were developed. Mechanical experiments of the SMA helical spring were carried out to understand its superelastic characteristics. After that, a series of quasi-static tests on a single SFB isolator prototype were conducted to measure its force-displacement relationships for different loading conditions and study the corresponding variation law of its mechanical performance. The experimental results demonstrate that the SFB exhibits full hysteretic curves, excellent energy dissipation capacity, and moderate recentering ability. Finally, a theoretical model capable of emulating the hysteretic behavior of the SMA-based isolator was then established and implemented in MATLAB software. The comparison of the numerical results with the experimental results shows the efficacy of the proposed model for simulating the response of the SFB.

A new type of damper with friction-variable characteristics

Professor T. T. Soong is one of the early pioneers in field of earthquake responsc control of structures. A new type of smart damper, which is based on an Energy Dissipating Restraint （EDR）, is presented in this paper. The EDR by Nims and Kelly, which has a triangle hysteretic loop, behaves like an active variable stiffness system （AVS） and possesses the basic characteristics of a linear viscous damper but has difficulty in capturing the output and large stroke simultaneously needed for practical applicataions in engineering structures. In order to overcome this limitation, the friction surface in the original Sumitomo EDR is divided into two parts with low and high friction coefficients in this paper. The results of finite element analysis studies show that the new type of smart friction damper enables large friction force in proportion to relative displacement between two ends of the damper and has a large allowable displacement to fit the demands of engineering applications. However, unlike the EDR by Nims and Kelly, this type of friction variable damper cannot self re-center. However, the lateral stiffness can be used to restore the structure. The nonlinear time history analysis of earthquake response for a structure equipped with the proposed friction variable dampers was carried out using the IDARC computer program. The results indicate that the proposed damper can successfully reduce the earthquake response of a structure.

Hysteretic behavior of cambered surface steel tube damper:Theoretical and experimental research

A novel cambered surface steel tube damper(CSTD)with a cambered surface steel tube and two concave connecting plates is proposed herein.The steel tube is the main energy dissipation component and comprises a weakened segment in the middle,a transition segment,and an embedded segment.It is believed that during an earthquake,the middle weakened segment of the CSTD will be damaged,whereas the reliability of the end connection is ensured.Theoretical and experimental studies are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed CSTD.Formulas for the initial stiffness and yield force of the CSTD are proposed.Subsequently,two CSTD specimens with different steel tube thicknesses are fabricated and tested under cyclic quasi-static loads.The result shows that the CSTD yields a stable hysteretic response and affords excellent energy dissipation.A parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of the steel tube height,diameter,and thickness on the seismic performance of the CSTD.Compared with equalstiffness design steel tube dampers,the CSTD exhibits better energy dissipation performance,more stable hysteretic response,and better uniformity in plastic deformation distributions.