Investigating the behavior of steel slit dampers in concrete structures

Iran is considered as one of the most seismically active regions in the world. Therefore, the need for seismic strengthening of the existing structures is essential. One of the suitable methods in seismic reinforcement of buildings is the use of dampers. Dampers are components, which are mostly utilized to increase damping and deplete seismic energy. Numerous studies have indicated that dampers can reduce seismic displacement. In this way, the performance of most of the load-bearing members of the structure remains in the elastic range. In this research, the effect of using slit steel dampers (SSD) on concrete structures was evaluated. Therefore, four models of SSD were selected as following: 3 single slit, 3 double slit, 5 single slit and 5 double slit in three thickness of 6, 8 and 10 mm, which were placed in a concrete frame with a single diagonal brace at the connection of the brace to the column beam. The effects of increasing the number of slits from 3 to 5, from single to double and increasing the thickness were studied. The results exhibited that by increasing the thickness of dampers, the area of force-displacement diagram, stiffness and strength were increased in frames. The frames, which are consisted of double 3-slit dampers presented better performance than 5-slit dampers. So that, the reduction of rigidity of frame with single 5-slit dampers in a thickness of 10 mm, was 4.9% in comparison with double samples. In addition, it is decreased in stiffness by 2.9% and 7.3% for single and double models, respectively