Findings from ARUP Provides New Data on Civil Engineering (An Assessment of Damper Placement Methods Considering Upfront Damper Cost)

2020 NOV 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Engineering Daily News -- Fresh data on Engineering - Civil Engineering are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Toronto, Canada, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Previous studies have shown that earthquake repair costs can be minimised by using large levels of supplemental damping and uniform damper placement. However, it is not always feasible to achieve this damping due to structural or financial restraints.”

Financial supporters for this research include Arup’s Invest in Arup scheme, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, University of Oxford.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from ARUP, “Iterative damper placement methods may be able to achieve higher levels of damping than simple methods such as uniform damping for the same total damper cost. In this work, six damper placement methods were assessed based on structural and non-structural repair costs. The total damper cost was constrained to be the same in each case. The scope of work was limited to linear fluid viscous dampers, concentric braced frames and regular structures. The iterative methods were found to provide a greater total damping coefficient to the structures than the simple methods. This resulted in a higher supplemental damping ratio and lower repair costs. If upfront funds are limited, or if architectural constraints prevent the placement of dampers in lower storeys, then iterative methods provide the most favourable total-building seismic performance. However, the conclusions should be extended cautiously.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Although iterative methods are favourable when the upfront damper investment is strictly limited, in terms of total-building seismic performance, it is advantageous to provide a large damping ratio using uniform damping.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: An Assessment of Damper Placement Methods Considering Upfront Damper Cost. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Structures and Buildings, 2020;173(11):879-887. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Structures and Buildings can be contacted at: Ice Publishing, Inst Civil Engineers, 1 Great George St, Westminister Sw 1P 3AA, England.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Giuseppe Marcantonio Del Gobbo, ARUP, Toronto, On, Canada. Additional authors for this research include Martin S. Williams and Anthony Blakeborough.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1680/jstbu.19.00023. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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