The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Damping capacity of a model steel structure

Rea, Dixon; Clough, Ray W.; Bouwkamp, Jack G.

UCB/EERC-69/14, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1969-12, 1 vol. (545.1/R35/1969)

The damping capacities of seven model steel structures, each consisting of a heavy steel platform supported on four columns, have been determined from forced vibration tests. The vibrations were produced by an eccentric-mass vibration generator, and the amplitudes ranged from small displacements up to slightly greater than yield displacement. The tests were terminated at the higher amplitudes once fatigue cracks formed in any of the joint welds in the columns. The results obtained are compared with the results of (1) experimental work conducted by Lazan; (2) reversed loading tests conducted on cantilever beams of similar construction to those tested in the work described in this report; and (3) experimental work conducted by Hanson.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-69-14.pdf (8 MB)