Seismic Response of Adjacent Structures Connected with Maxwell Dampers

In this paper, the investigation is carried out to study the structural responses of two adjacent structures connected with Maxwell dampers under various earthquake excitations. The specific objective of this study is to evaluate the optimum damper parameter and its importance in response reduction of adjacent structures coupled by Maxwell dampers. The optimum damper parameter is investigated for the adjacent coupled structures subjected to four different types of earthquake ground motions. A formulation of the equations of motion for the two adjacent multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) structures connected with Maxwell dampers is presented. The numerical study is carried out for two adjacent MDOF structures connected with Maxwell dampers having same damper parameter in all dampers as well as, having different damper parameter in the dampers. The investigation is also carried out for effectiveness of the damper in terms of the structural response reduction, namely, displacement, acceleration and shear forces of adjacent connected structures. In addition, to minimize the cost of the dampers, the optimal location of the dampers, rather than providing the dampers at all floor levels is also investigated. Results show that using Maxwell dampers of appropriate parameter to connect the adjacent structures of different fundamental frequencies can effectively reduce earthquake-induced responses of either structure. Further, lesser dampers at appropriate locations can significantly reduce the earthquake response of connected system, there by reducing cost of damper significantly.