Experimental and numerical behaviour of hysteretic and visco-recentring energy dissipating bracing systems

An extensive program of shaking table tests under the name Project JetPacs (Joint experimental testing on Passive and semi active control systems) has been developed with the goal of assessing the effectiveness of seven different passive and semi-active energy dissipating bracing (EDB) systems in controlling the seismic vibrations of framed buildings. The experimental program, carried out considering a 3D 1/1.5 scaled steel frame, was entirely funded by the Italian Department of Civil Protection as part of the RELUIS 2005–2008 project. The following article focuses on the experimental tests carried out considering only two EDB systems, based on hysteretic dampers (HD) and visco-recentring devices (SMA + VD) respectively. Specially shaped low carbon steel plates were used to provide hysteresis in the HD based devices, while the innovative SMA + VD visco-recentring system was made up of a combination of viscous dampers (VD) and shape memory alloy (SMA) wires. In this paper a displacement focused design procedure based on non linear static analysis has been proposed in order to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of both types of energy dissipating device. The aim of this design procedure is to limit inter-storey drifts after frame yielding. In order to assess the robustness of the design procedure and to evaluate the effects of the viscous and recentring components, two different sets of HD and SMA + VD devices characterized by slight alterations in the mechanical properties have been tested and compared. Finally, the experimental seismic response of the structure equipped with and without the HD and SMA + VD elements is reported and compared with numerical results obtained using non linear time history analysis.