CONTROL OF BUILDING SEISMIC RESPONSE BY MEANS OF THREE SEMI-ACTIVE FRICTION DAMPERS

A study has been made of the use of three semi-active friction devices, herein referred to as dampers, to control the seismic response of a building modelled as three masses. With a pseudo-random earthquake input, peak lateral accelerations, inter-storey drift and base displacement relative to ground can be reduced by up to 50% of the values in the passive case. The relative effectiveness of each damper is assessed. The damper between the base and the ground is, as anticipated, the most useful.