Experimental Investigation into Effect of Strip or Slit Geometric Pattern on Structural and Seismic Behavior of Steel Slit Yield Damper and Determining Optimal Pattern under Cyclic Loading

By reviewing the literature on steel slit yield dampers (SSD), this study investigated and compared the effect of new strip shapes and geometric patterns on the behavior of this type of dampers. This study investigated a reference slit-less sample (solid) along with nine samples with a single row of blades or slits and three different shapes and geometric patterns, namely simple or constant cross-section, linearly tapered cross-section, and parabolic tapered cross-section with an elliptical slit at three different heights. These samples were subjected to cyclic loading in the laboratory. After determining force-displacement hysteresis curves, the important behavioral parameters of the investigated SSDs were calculated and compared. Effective stiffness, effective damping, force capacity, and displacement under cyclic loading were among the considered parameters in the current study. Results showed that dampers with simple blades and elliptical slits exhibited the poorest and best performances, respectively. Findings also indicated that the elliptical damper offered the highest effective stiffness, greatest energy absorption, and specifically the longest durability to cyclic loads. At displacements larger than 5 mm, the increase in effective stiffness of samples with an elliptical slit was roughly 1.6 times greater than that of samples with linearly tapered cross-sections. The equivalent viscous damping within the aforementioned displacement range at the optimal dimensions for a sample with an elliptical slit was roughly 1.1 times greater than that in a sample with linearly tapered cross-section.