Conventional slit dampers are widely used for the purpose of seismic retrofitting, however, the structure of these dampers is susceptible to fractures, due to stress concentration at the ends of the strips in the event of large earthquakes. To address this issue, a novel radius-cut coke-shaped strip damper featuring improved ductility is proposed herein. This damper was developed based on the moment distribution over the strip when both its ends were constrained. The height-to-width ratio of the strip was increased to induce bending rather than shear deformation, and the reduced beam section method was employed. A radius-cut section was used to intentionally focus the stress to induce the plastic hinge. This reduced the fracture fragility of the specimen, resulting in an increased inelastic deformation capacity. Cyclic loading tests were conducted to verify damping performance against earthquakes. Experiments and finite element analyses proved that the coke-shaped damper exhibits improved ductility. The final fracture occurred in the radius-cut section after sufficient energy dissipation during cyclic loading. The results also indicated further improvements in strength due to the membrane effect under cyclic loading, caused by the tensile resistance of the strip due to its constrained ends.
Keywords: cyclic loading; energy dissipation device; passive control system; plastic hinge; reduced beam section; strip damper.