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Viscous dampers are commonly used in large span cable-stayed bridges to mitigate seismic effects and have achieved great success.

However, the nonlinear analysis on damper parameters is usually computational intensive and nonobjective. To address these issues, this paper proposes a simplified method to determine the viscous damper parameters for double-tower cable-stayed bridges. An empirical formula of the equivalent damping ratio of viscous dampers is established through decoupling nonclassical damping structures and linearization of nonlinear viscous dampers. Shaking table tests are conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. Moreover, this simplified method has been proved in long-span cable-stayed bridges.

The feasibility of this method is verified by the simplified model shaking table test. This simplified method for determining the parameters of viscous dampers is verified in cable-stayed bridges with different spans.

This simplified method has been validated in cable-stayed bridges with various spans.

The purpose of this research is to study the dynamic behavior of hydrostatic squeeze film dampers made of four hydrostatic pads, fed through four capillary restrictors with micropolar lubricant.

The modified version of Reynolds equation is solved numerically by the finite differences and the Gauss–Seidel methods to determine the pressure field generated on the hydrostatic bearing flat pads. In the first step, the effects of the pad dimension ratios on the stiffness and damping coefficients are investigated. In the second step, the damping factor is evaluated with respect to the micropolar properties.

The analysis revealed that the hydrostatic squeeze film dampers lubricated with micropolar lubricants produces the maximum damping factor for characteristic length of micropolar lubricant less than 5, while the same bearing operating with Newtonian lubricants reaches its maximum damping factor at eccentricity ratios larger than 0.4.

The results obtained show that the effects of micropolar lubricants on the dynamic performances are predominantly affected by the pad geometry and eccentricity ratio.

The theory is presented of the increase in damping that can be obtained when a damping compound is added to a simple structure vibrating in a bending mode. Consideration has been given to the use of ‘Aquaplas’ damping compound on a vibrating stringer‐skin combination, and it has been shown that the maximum damping ratio is obtained when the material is applied to the stringer flange over the centre 40 per cent of the pin‐ended length of the beam. A preliminary experimental investigation is described, in which damping measurements were made on a simple structural specimen treated with Aquaplas. A new method was used successfully to determine the damping ratio of a heavily damped system. The damping properties of Aquaplas were evaluated, and some of the theoretical conclusions were verified. Some of the results obtained indicate that a more accurate mathematical representation must be sought for the visco‐elastic behaviour of Aquaplas than is provided by the ‘complex stiffness’ method.

The non‐linear damping mechanisms are expressed in two general forms: velocity dependent and displacement dependent. The non‐linear damping phenomena are expressed by an array of ‘local constants’, whose value depends upon excitation frequency, excitation amplitude, and type of non‐linearity. Thus, the non‐linear system is replaced by several localized linear systems corresponding to every discrete frequency and amplitude of excitation. Each of the localized linear systems, thus formulated, characterizes the response behaviour of the original non‐linear system, quite accurately in the vicinity of the specific frequency and amplitude of excitation. An algorithm is developed, which expresses the non‐linear damping by an array of ‘local constants’. The algorithm then employs the usual linear design tools to generate the response characteristics almost identical to the response behaviour of the non‐linear system.

This paper aims to study the seismic response of frame structure with friction dampers.

The state equation of the structure subjected to the earthquake is presented and solved, from which the maximum drift and the interlayer drift angle of the floors of the structure subjected to the seismic waves of four types of sites are analyzed.

The result indicates that the damping effect is significant on the floors with the friction damper but is almost little influence on the other floor.

The result indicates that the damping effect is significant on the floors with the friction damper but is almost little influence on the other floor.

Seismic isolation, as an effective risk mitigation strategy of building/bridge structures, is incorporated into AP1000 nuclear power plants (NPPs) to alleviate the seismic damage that may occur to traditional structures of NPPs during their service. This is to promote the passive safety concept in the structural design of AP1000 NPPs against earthquakes.

In conjunction with seismic isolation, tuned-mass-damping (TMD) is integrated into the seismic resistance system of AP1000 NPPs to satisfy the multi-functional purposes. The proposed base-isolation-tuned-mass-damper (BIS-TMD) is studied by comparing the seismic performance of NPPs with four different design configurations (i.e. without BIS, BIS, BIS-TMD and TMD) with the design parameters of the TMD subsystem optimized.

Such a new seismic protection system (BIS-TMD) is proved to be promising because the advantages of BIS and TMD can be fully used. The benefits of the new structure include effective energy dissipation (i.e. wide vibration absorption band and a stable damping effect), which results in the high performance of NPPs subject to earthquakes with various intensity levels and spectra features.

Parametric studies are performed to demonstrate the seismic robustness (e.g. consistent performance against the changing mass of the water in the gravity liquid tank and mechanical properties) which further ensures that seismic safety requirements of NPPs can be satisfied through the use of BIS-TMD.

An equivalent linear damping model is developed for forward flight condition, with the flap/lag/pitch kinematics and nonlinear characteristics of hydraulic damper taken into account. Damper axial velocity is analyzed from the velocities of the damper‐to‐blade attachment point in time domain. For the case of blade lead‐lag oscillations without forced excitation and kinematics, the equivalent linear damping is calculated from transient response with energy balance method, Fourier series based moving block analysis and Hilbert transform based technology, respectively. Results indicate that equivalent linear damping decreases significantly with lead‐lag forced excitation and flap/lag/pitch kinematics, especially with the latter in flight condition.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new modification of the multimodal pushover method, named the target acceleration method. The target acceleration is the minimum acceleration of the base that leads to the ultimate limit state of the structure, i.e., the lowest seismic resistance.

A nonlinear numerical model is used to determine the target acceleration, which is achieved using the iterative procedure according to the envelope principle. Validation of the target acceleration method was conducted on the basis of the results obtained by incremental dynamic analysis.

The influence of higher modes is highly significant. The general failure vector corresponding to the target acceleration differs from the first load vector and the form of the load with uniform acceleration according to the height of structure, as contained in the European Standard EN 1998-1. Comparison between the target acceleration, including the equivalent structural damping, and the failure peak ground acceleration obtained from the dynamic response of the structure exhibits notably good agreement. This result implies that the equivalent structural damping as calculated according to the formulation presented in this paper should be greater than that suggested in the literature.

The originally developed procedure named multimodal pushover target acceleration method can reasonably estimate the minimum acceleration of the base that leads to the ultimate limit state of the structure, and consequently provides a reliable tool for the assessment of the lowest seismic resistance.

Electrohydraulic servos have been widely applied to the task of precisely positioning heavy loads. Common examples from the military field are radar antenna and rocket engine swivelling drives. In the commercial area large machine tool position controls are a prime example. Even with relatively substantial driving linkages, the inertia of these loads frequently results in low natural frequency of the output load‐driver structure. Very commonly this is combined with extremely small natural damping forces. Natural frequencies from 5 to 20 c.p.s. with damping ratios in the oder of 0·05 critical are typical. This combination of resonance with low damping creates a severe stability and performance problem for the electrohydraulic servo drive. Efforts to deal with this problem have centred on introducing artificial damping. In the past this has been done either by use of a controlled piston by‐pass leakage path or by use of a load force feedback path. The former technique is simple but wasteful with respect to power and inherently involves serious performance compromises. The latter technique can be arranged to be unassailable on theoretical grounds. However, it leads to severe system complication and large incremental hardware requirements. Questions of a reliability penalty are raised. A new technique has been developed which possesses all the performance advantages of load feedback without serious increase in complexity. Called Dynamic Pressure Feedback, this technique involves only a modification of servo valve component. It utilizes for feedback purposes the inherently high load forces developed as piston differential pressures, insuring reliable operation. The pressures needed are already available at the valve. No new hydraulic or electrical connexions are added. The performance advantages adduced for the Dynamic Pressure Feedback Servo Valve have been confirmed in carefully controlled comparative tests on a typical load system. Correspondence of test data with analytical prediction is good. A sufficient number of Dynamic Pressure Feedback Servo Valves have been produced on a pilot production line and installed in several applications in the field to insure producibility and design reliability.

This study aims to propose a numerical modeling procedure for response analysis of elastic body floating in water and submitted to regular waves. An equivalent simplified mechanical single-degree-of-freedom system allowing to reproduce the heave movements is first developed, then the obtained lumped characteristics are used for elastic analysis of the floating body in heave motion.

First, a two-dimensional numerical model of a rigid floating body in a wave tank is implemented under DualSPHysics, an open source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. Then, the obtained results are exploited to derive an equivalent mechanical mass-spring-damper model. Finally, estimated equivalent characteristics are used in a structural finite element modeling of the considered body assuming elastic behavior.

Obtained results concerning the floating body displacements are represented and validated using existing experimental data in the literature. Wave forces acting on the body are also evaluated. It was found that for regular waves, it is possible to replace the complex CFD refined model by an equivalent simplified mechanical system which makes easy the use of structural finite element analysis.

The originality of this work lies in the proposed procedure to evaluate the mechanical properties of the equivalent elastic system. This allows to couple two different software tools and to take advantages of their features.