Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

A practical design method for reinforced concrete structures with viscous dampers
Ying Zhou , Xilin Lu, Dagen Weng, Ruifu Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 19 July 2011
Revised 7 February 2012
Accepted 9 February 2012
Available online 22 March 2012
Keywords:
Viscous damper
Design method
Reinforced concrete structure
Wenchuan Earthquake

a b s t r a c t
As a result of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, the Chinese government issued a modied seismic code
with increased protection categories and seismic intensities. According to the new code, a lot of school
and industrial buildings need to be seismically retrotted to satisfy the new seismic requirements. Compared to the retrotting technology of seismic isolation, the installation of viscous dampers to those
existing buildings is more realistic because of easy construction. However, the design of viscous dampers,
which provides a high level of damping in a structure, is a relatively new application in China for a wellestablished and proven technology in other seismically active regions in the world. Only general information on the usage of viscous damper is given in Chinese code, which would potentially confuse engineers
and researchers. Thus, the intent of this paper is to propose a practical design method for reinforced concrete (RC) structures with viscous dampers. The proposed design process is divided into two stages. In the
preliminary stage, the quantity, mechanical parameters and congurations of the viscous dampers are
determined. In the next stage, the reduction of deformations, additional damping ratio, and connection
of the dampers to the structure are examined. An example is also given to demonstrate the application
of the proposed method to retrot a RC frame structure by viscous dampers. It is concluded that the proposed design method satises the urgent requirement of design and pushes the further development of
research on viscous dampers.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
1.1. Background
On May 12th, 2008, a magnitude of MW 8.0 earthquake hit
Wenchuan in China. The earthquake had a shallow focal depth of
approximately 19 km, with the epicenter located 80km WNW of
Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. The entire country was devastated by the mega earthquake. The death toll of the earthquake
was of over 69,000 killed people, with over 374,000 people injured
and nearly 5 million homeless; the total lost was estimated at
US$130 billion.
After the Wenchuan Earthquake, new Chinese seismic design
codes were issued with the modications in attempt to increase
protection categories and seismic intensities. In Chinese code, the
protection categories of buildings specied in the Standard for Classication of Seismic Protection of Building Constructions (GB50223,
2008) [1] are classied into four categories: moderate protection
(MP), standard protection (SP), emphasized protection (EP), and
particular protection (PP), in the order of the increasing protection
requirement. The design requirements for the four building types

of protection categories are different in structural details and seismic forces [2]. After the quake, protection categories for all class
buildings, dormitories, and dining halls in kindergartens, primary
schools, and middle schools are increased from standard seismic
protection buildings to emphasized seismic protection buildings.
This modication means that the seismic forces of those school
buildings will be calculated commensurate with the design intensity while the structural details will be checked one degree higher
than the design intensity. The purpose of this modication is to
protect young and valuable students in earthquakes. On the other
hand, the seismic intensities of cities are specied in the Code for
Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011-2008) [3]. After Wenchuan
Earthquake, the seismic intensities of many cities in China are
increased by half degree or more. Lots of school buildings and
industrial buildings in those cities are not complied with new seismic code requirements and thus need to be retrotted.
Comparing to traditional retrotting practices, such as enlarging cross sections or adding steel plates to structural elements
[4], the application of supplementary viscous dampers to buildings
enables easier construction, and reduced labor and downtime.
1.2. Existing research on viscous dampers

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 6598 6157; fax: +86 21 6598 2668.
E-mail addresses: yingzhou@tongji.edu.cn (Y. Zhou), lxlst@tongji.edu.cn (X. Lu),
wdg@tongji.edu.cn (D. Weng), zhangruifu@gmail.com (R. Zhang).
0141-0296/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2012.02.014

Viscous dampers themselves are old technology, dating back

to more than a century ago to full-scale usage on US large cali-

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

ber military cannons in the 1860s. This technology was not

available for the public disclosure or usage until the Cold War
ended. In 1990, Taylor Devices received the permission to sell
this technology to the public. Despite the long history and
well-established usage of viscous damper, it is still a relatively
new building technology yet to be further developed and
studied.
Studies have been published regarding viscous dampers design
methodology. Constantinou and Symans [5] proposed a simplied
method for calculating the modal characteristics of structures
with added uid dampers. The method was used to obtain estimates of peak response of the tested structures by utilizing the
response spectrum approach. Gluck et al. [6] suggested a design
method for supplemental dampers in multi-story structures,
adapting the optimal control theory by using a linear quadratic
regulator (LQR) to design linear passive viscous (VS) or viscoelastic (VE) devices depending on their deformation and velocity. Fu
and Kasai [7] compared frames dynamic behavior using VE or
pure VS dampers, where identical mathematical expressions were
derived in terms of two fundamental nondimensional parameters.
Kasai et al. [8] proposed a simplied theory to predict and compare the seismic performance of VE and elastoplastic (EP) damping devices. Yang et al. [9] proposed two optimal design
methodologies for passive energy dissipation devices based on active control theories leading to the determination of VS and VE
dampers, dening different forms of performance functions. Lee
and Taylor [10] developed the energy dissipation technology
and suggested that approximately 1525% of additional damping
is a desirable range in the damper designed buildings. Lin et al.
[11] presented a seismic displacement-based design method for
new and regular buildings equipped with passive energy dissipation systems. Using the substitute structure approach for the
building structure and simulating the mechanical properties of
the passive energy dissipation devices by the effective stiffness
and effective viscous damping ratio, a rational linear iteration
method was proposed. Uetani et al. [12] proposed a practical
method for optimum structural design of building frames with
viscous dampers. The method rst did the stiffness design of a reduced shear-building model with viscous dampers. Then the optimum design for building frames was performed under static
design loads. Design examples were presented to demonstrate
the usefulness of the proposed design method. Chen et al. [13]
performed elastic and elastoplastic analysis on Wenchuan Hospital with VS damper to check the seismic performance of the
structure under various earthquake scenarios. The damping ratio
was estimated by a method of inputting a series of sine waves
and calculating the earthquake energy.
In the United States, ASCE/SEI 7-05 [14] and FEMA P-750 document [15] summarize design strategies for viscously damped
structures. In addition, Sadeck et al. [16] also identied some limitations in the FEMA 273 [17] procedures for the design of structures with velocity-dependent passive energy dissipation devices
based on the analysis of single-degree-of-freedom structures.
One of the major limitations includes an unconservative estimation of peak response and base shear when using a constant reduction factor to obtain displacement response of short-period
structures and assuming a harmonic response to compute the peak
velocity, story and base shear. In China, although damper technologies are specied in the 2001 version and 2008 modied version
of Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011) [18], only general
information is given in the codes. A standardized design method is
therefore needed for a more widespread and routine inclusion of
viscous damper in structural design practice.
In the following sections, a practical design method is proposed
for structures with viscous dampers. An example is also given to
demonstrate the application of the proposed method.

2. Design method for structures with viscous dampers

In the preliminary stage of designing viscous dampers in a
structure, the following tasks needed to be done: (1) determine
the number of viscous dampers, (2) choose the parameters of viscous dampers, and (3) congure the layout of viscous dampers. In
the second stage of design, engineers should check the structural
deformations, the additional damping ratio, and the dampers connection to other structural elements in order to ensure the workability of the damper systems.
2.1. Preliminary design
2.1.1. Number of viscous dampers
The essence of damper technology is to add additional damping
to structures to eat up the energy induced by wind or earthquake. Thus the additional damping ratio is the key parameter in
the whole process of design, which governs the number of dampers
and controls the effect of dissipation.
The effective damping ratio can be calculated using Eq. (1) [19],
which is also specied in the Chinese code [3] and American code
[14].

Wc
4p  W s

where f is the effective damping ratio added by viscous damper

devices, Wc is the energy dissipated by viscous damper devices in
one cycle of expected displacement of a structure, i.e., the total area
of the forcedisplacement curves, and Ws is the total strain energy
of an energy dissipated structure under expected displacement.
Take one story for an example. The total strain energy Ws can be
expressed as Eq. (2), where F is the horizontal story shearing force;
and D is the relative story displacement.

Ws

1
FD
2

Fig. 1 shows a typical forcedisplacement curve of a nonlinear

viscous damper, where the area is simplied to be a parallelogram
(Fig. 2). Thus, the energy dissipated by viscous dampers, Wc can be
calculated as Eq. (3).



Fd
W c 4F d D 
Kd

where Fd the damping is force of viscous dampers and Kd is the

stiffness of viscous dampers.

800
600
400
200
-60

-40

-20

20

40

60

-200
-400
-600
-800

Fig. 1. Forcedisplacement curve of a nonlinear viscous damper.

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

is shown that the average value of

can be approximated
21  l
to be 2.0. Therefore,

F d 2:0  0:15  F 0:3F

That is to say, the damping force induced by viscous dampers in

each story can be preliminarily taken as 30% of the story shearing
force. If the force capacity of each damper Fdi is chosen, then the
number of viscous dampers is determined as Eq. (8).

Fd
F di

2.1.2. Parameters of viscous dampers

Viscous damper is one type of velocity-dependent dampers. The
theoretical formula of a viscous damper can be given as follows.

F di C  jv ja  signv
Fig. 2. Simplied parallelogram of the forcedisplacement curve of a nonlinear
viscous damper.

Combining Eqs. (1) and (3) leads to a following expression for

the damping ratio f, as described in Eq. (4).



4F d D  KF d
d

4p  12 FD

with



2F d 1  KF d =D
d

pF

Fd
=D,
Kd

21  l F d

p
F

In Eq. (5), l is the ratio of the damper displacement to the relative story displacement (Fig. 2), which can also be seen as ductility demand. In addition, it can be observed that the additional
damping ratio f induced by the viscous dampers can be correlated
to the displacement ratio l and the force ratio Fd/F.
According to Eq. (5), the damping force is,

Fd

p
21  l

fF

An important parameter in determining the damping force is

the damping ratio f. There are several guidelines. Lee and Taylor
[10] suggested a practical upper limit for the combined viscous
and structural damping of 25%, and a desirable range of 15% -25%
for typical building. In contrast, the Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011) [3,18] species that whenever the effective damping ratio f including the energy dissipation devices exceeds 20%, it
should be taken as 20%. Thereby, for preliminary design, f is taken
as 15%, which will be checked later for the accuracy of this
assumption.
As dened above, l is the ratio of the damper capacity to the
structural demand. In general, it is not desirable for a damper to
reach its capacity either too early under a minor earthquake or
too later under a major earthquake. It is thus assumed here that a
viscous damper reaches its capacity under a moderate earthquake.
Table 1 lists the inter-story drift objectives of reinforced
concrete (RC) structures under various earthquake levels [20]. It

Fdi is the damping force of a single viscous damper, while C is the

damping factor. v represents the velocity of the viscous damper
and its exponential parameter a determines the relationship
between force and velocity. It should be evident that when a = 1,
Eq. (9) expresses the relationship of linear viscous dampers.
Since the values of the aforementioned parameters substantially affect the behavior of a viscous damper, a sensitivity analysis
of the various parameters is shown in the next section to demonstrate the reasoning behind choosing certain parameters for a
viscous damper.
2.1.2.1. Parameter analysis. It is assumed that the displacement and
the velocity of dampers are expressed in Eqs. (10) and (11).

d A sin xt

10

v d_ Ax cos xt

11

Thus,

F di C  jv ja  signv C  jAx cos xtja  signAx cos xt

12

Given A = 60 mm, f 2xp 0:1 Hz, and C = 100 kN s/mm, the

forcedisplacement curves under various a values are shown in
Fig. 3a. Next, holding A and f as constants, the forcedisplacement
curves under various C values for a = 0.2 are shown in Fig. 3b. From
Fig. 3, it can be easily found that the area inside the curve, i.e. the
energy dissipation capacity of the damper, will be larger with an increase in both C and a values. However, this result does not necessarily indicate that the larger C and a values, the better it is for
structures.
Keeping the same displacement (A = 60 mm) and force
(Fdi = 3770 kN), the forcedisplacement curves at a = 0.2 and
a = 1.0 are given in Fig. 4. It can be seen that the shape of the curve
at a = 0.2 is closer to a rectangle while the shape of the curve at
a = 1.0 resembles more of an ellipse. Apparently, more energy dissipation area will be achieved when a is taken a smaller value.
Martinez-Rodrigo and Romero [21] compared the retrotting effect
on a six-story steel structure by using linear dampers and by using
nonlinear dampers. It was concluded that a nonlinear damper force

Table 1
Inter-story drift objectives of RC structures.
Minor earthquake level

Frame structures
Shear wall structures
Hybrid structures

Moderate earthquake level

Major earthquake level

Operational

Immediate occupancy

Life safety

Collapse prevention

1/550
1/1000
1/800

1/250
1/500
1/400

1/100
1/250
1/200

1/50
1/120
1/100

21  l
0.20
0.24
0.25
Average

2.0
2.1
2.1
2.0

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

(kN)

(kN)

5000
4000
3000

=0.00

2000

=0.10

1000

(mm)

0
-80

-60

-40

-20
0
-1000

20

40

60

80

=0.20

(mm)

=0.30
=0.50
=0.75

-2000

=1.00

-3000
-4000
-5000

(a) Force-displacement curves under various

(b) Force-displacement curves under various C

Fig. 3. Parameter analysis of a nonlinear viscous damper.

culty in designing the structural elements connecting with the

dampers. Thus, selecting the appropriate a and C values deserve
special attention in the preliminary design stage.

(kN)
5000
4000
3000

2.1.2.2. Parameter determination. Eq. (9) could be transformed as

Eq. (13).

2000
1000

(mm)

0
-80

-60

-40

-20

-1000

20

40

60

80

=0.20
=1.00

-2000
-3000
-4000
-5000
Fig. 4. Forcedisplacement curves at a = 0.2 and a = 1.0.

F di
jv ja  signv

13

A viscous damper catalogue is usually provided by the manufacturers for several given a values. Generally, the a value selected for
seismic design is smaller than that of wind resistant design. Using a
Taylor device as an example, for structures with seismic demand
dominating over wind demand, the a exponent value typically
ranges from 0.3 to 1.0. On the other hand, for structures with wind
controlled design, the a exponent value is usually between 0.7 and
1.0 [22].
A velocity of a damper can be preliminarily premised and
checked in the second design stage. It is suggested a velocity of
200250 mm/s will be suitable for viscous dampers on buildings.
For example, researchers took 10 in/s (254 mm/s) as a design
velocity of viscous dampers [23].
Given the force capacity Fdi for each damper, all parameters in
Eq. (13) are now determined.
2.1.3. Conguration of viscous dampers
The main concept to keep in mind when determining the conguration of the viscous dampers in a building is to place them
in those stories where inter-story drifts are relatively large. However, putting dampers only in the stories with excessively large
displacement actually has a counter effect of increasing inter-story
drift in the upper stories [24]. As a result, dampers should also be
placed in the adjacent stories to ensure a uniform deformation
shape for the building.

Fig. 5. Horizontal cracks of inlled walls.

2.2. Second stage of design

was 35% less than that of a linear damper with a equaling 1.0. Nevertheless, there is a fundamental trade-off between a and C. Meaning in order to achieve a certain amount of force using a smaller a,
a larger C has to be chosen at the same time. This inverse relationship between a and C is also evident in Eq. (9). The value C, however, is a parameter correlating to the stiffness of dampers. An
excessively high damper stiffness would potentially create dif-

In the preliminary design, viscous dampers have been selected

and congured in building structures. The following results should
be checked in the second stage of design: (1) structural deformations; (2) additional damping ratio; and (3) connecting structural
elements. Damper values and conguration determined in preliminary design of the viscous dampers may need to be modied
according to the three values above. Thus, the process of adding

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Fig. 6. Damage at the beam and column ends.

50400
7200

7200

7200

7200

7200

7200

7200

7200

7200

17400

3000

Fig. 7. Plan layout of Story 3.

Fig. 9. Response spectra in Chinese code.

viscous dampers in a building is an iterative process in order to

optimize energy dissipation effect.

Fig. 8. Analytical model of the structure.

2.2.1. Checking for structural deformations

In the Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011, 2008) [3], a
two-stages-and-three-levels method is specied for seismic de-

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Table 2
First six periods of the structure.
No.

Period (s)

Modal shape

1
2
3
4
5
6

1.32
1.25
1.22
0.43
0.42
0.41

Translation
Torsion
Translation
Translation
Torsion
Translation

in Y
in X
in Y
in X

sign of building structures. Three levels correspond to the minor,

moderate, and major earthquake scenarios. The main performance
objectives are to ensure structures immediate occupancy without
damage under minor earthquakes, operational with repairable
damage under moderate earthquakes, and functional without
severe collapse under major earthquakes. These objectives are
fullled by checking forces and elastic displacements under minor
earthquakes, and by checking elastoplastic displacements under
major earthquakes, which is so called two stages. The requirement for the moderate earthquake level is only satised by the
design of structural details. Thus, inter-story drifts are usually used
as the engineering demand parameter (EDP) for checking the effect
of viscous dampers.
2.2.2. Checking for additional damping ratio
In the preliminary design, the additional damping ratio is rst
employed to estimate the number of viscous dampers. However,
in the second stage of design, the real forcedisplacement curves
of dampers have been obtained and should be used to check the
additional damping ratio. In Fig. 2, the displacement demand D
should be replaced by the real damper displacement Ddmax and
the force Fd should be Fdmax. There is,



Fd
4c  F d max  Dd max
4F d D 
Kd

14

16

where Kb is the stiffness of the supporting component in the direction of the energy dissipating device; Cv is the linear damping factor
of the energy-dissipating device, which corresponds to the
fundamental vibration period of the structure and is determined
by testing; and T1 is the fundamental vibration period of the
energy-dissipated structure.
As introduced before, Cv in fact is a factor correlated to the stiffness of dampers. The physical signicance of Eq. (16) is to build an
equation between the stiffness of components and the stiffness of
dampers. Since Cv is hard to be accurately determined based on the
fundamental vibration period of the structure, according to Eq. (9),

F d0 C v  jv ja  signv K c  Dmax

17

where Fd0 is the damping force when the displacement is zero; Kc is

the loss of stiffness for dampers (Fig. 1), which is dened as Kc = Fd0/
Ddmax; and Ddmax is the maximum displacement of dampers.
There is,

C v  jx  Dmax ja K c  Dmax

Cv  x K c

18

15

As mentioned before, when the checking result exceed 20%, it

should be taken as 20% [3].

19

Eq. (16) can be transformed to the equation as below.

K b 3  x  Cv 3  K c

PP
f

K b 6p=T 1  C v

when a = 1,

where c is the shape coefcient, which denotes the shape difference

between the parallelogram and the rectangular. c is taken as
0.60.9.
According to Eqs. (4) and (14) for multi-story buildings,

4cF d max  Dd max

P
4p  12 FD

2.2.3. Checking for connecting structural members

The results of Uriz and Whittaker [25] showed that although the
retrotted structural global seismic performance was improved by
dampers, the original beams, columns and foundations also need to
be strengthened to ensure enough force transfer strength. Generally, all elements on the force transfer path of viscous dampers
should be checked.
In the Code for Seismic Design of Buildings (GB50011), the stiffness of the energy-dissipating components in the direction of energy-dissipating device may be calculated with the following
equation.

20

Eq. (20) shows that the stiffness of energy-dissipating support

components should be three times of the loss stiffness of dampers
to ensure the serviceability of the system, which forms the basis of
checking support components.

Fig. 10. Structural inter-story drifts by response spectrum analysis.

Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

193

Fig. 11. Time histories and response spectra of three input waves.

3. Example of a RC frame structure retrotted with viscous

dampers
3.1. Building description
The target building is an ofce building of a Power Gas Company in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province. It is made of reinforced concrete (RC). Though the structure was originally designed based on a
seismic intensity of 7 in 1997, it was damaged during 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake.

Most visible damages are the horizontal inlled wall cracks in

the longitudinal direction (Fig. 5). Cracks with a width of 0.1 mm
to 3 mm were observed at the structural beam ends in longitudinal
direction. In Stories 3 and 4, minor cracks (0.10.5 mm) were also
observed at the ends of the columns (Fig. 6). Because of the limited
structural elements damage found, the structure was evaluated as
minor damage grade by the seismic evaluation team.
To retrot the structure, which is now designed under a seismic
intensity level of 8 according to the modied requirement for
Dujiangyan City, two retrot strategies are considered. First,

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Fig. 12. Structural inter-story drifts by time history analysis.

Table 3
Shear forces and preliminary damping forces of time history analysis.
Story

Max. shear force (kN)

X direction

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

142
1430
2237
2694
3022
3464
3722

Preliminary damping force (kN)

Number of dampers

Y direction

X direction

Y direction

X direction

Y direction

129
1556
2062
2282
2261
2701
3238

43
429
671
808
907
1039
1117

39
467
619
685
678
810
971

0
0
2x500kN
2x500kN
2x500kN
2x700kN
2x700kN

0
0
2x500kN
2x500kN
2x500kN
2x700kN
2x700kN

Lead rubber isolator

Viscous
damper

Viscous
damper

Joint
strengthening

Fig. 13. Conguration of viscous dampers.

engineers will strengthen all the damaged joints by sticking steel

plates, and then they will add viscous dampers.
3.2. Structural analytical parameters
The structure has a plan dimension of 50.4 m by 17.4 m (Fig. 7).
There are seven stories with a story height of 4.6 m, 4.2 m,
3  3.6 m, 4.2 m and 3.6 m from Story 1 to 7, respectively. The total
height of the structure is 27.4 m. RC frame structural system is
applied to undertake the gravity loads and lateral forces. The cross
sections of frame beams are 350 mm by 600 mm and those of
columns changed along the structural height from 800 mm by
800 mm to 500 mm by 500 mm. The thickness of the slab is
100 mm. All concrete design grades are C30 that has a cubic

compressive strength of 14.3 MPa. The inlled wall is made by

air brick with a thickness of 200 mm. An analytical structural model is built up by ETABS, as shown in Fig. 8. The frame elements are
used to simulate structural beams and columns, and the slab elements are applied for slabs. Later, link elements are used for viscous dampers.
First the response spectra analysis is carried out. The response
spectra in Chinese code is shown in Fig. 9 (GB50011-2008). In
the analysis, the seismic coefcient under intensity 8 of Dujiangyan is 0.16 and the site characteristic period is 0.4 s. A period
reduction coefcient is taken as 0.85 to consider the stiffness contribution of inlled walls to the structure. Table 2 lists the rst six
periods of the structure and the inter-story drift is shown in Fig. 10.
One can easily nd that the structural inter-story drifts in both
directions are beyond the code limitation of 1/550 under minor
earthquake of intensity 8. Adding viscous dampers are required
to control the structural responses.

3.3. Preliminary design

3.3.1. Number of viscous dampers
The time history procedure is selected for the design of viscous
dampers. According to Chinese code, two ground motion records
and one articial accelerogram are necessary for the analysis
(GB50011). Here 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake ground motion
record (Wolong Station N-S), 1940 El Centro ground motion record,
and XIN1 articial accelerogram are selected. Their time histories
and response spectra are shown in Fig. 11. The peak ground accelerations (PGA) are scaled down to 0.07 g, 0.2 g, 0.4 g to commensurate with the PGA under minor, moderate, and major earthquakes
of intensity 8.

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

C

VD

VD

VD

VD

VD

VD

VD

VD

A
1

(a) Story 3~5

(b) Story 1~2

Story 1~2: four 700 kN VD in X and Y

Story 4~5: two 500 kN VD in X and Y

Story 3: two 700 kN VD in X and Y
Fig. 14. Plan layouts of viscous dampers.

Fig. 12 gives the inter-story drifts of the structure under three

inputs. It can be found that the responses under El Centro in both
directions and under XIN1 in X direction exceed the code limitation. The maximum shear forces under three inputs are tabulated
in Table 3. As introduced in Section 2.1.1, the preliminary design
damping forces are taken as 30% of the shear forces of stories.
Those forces for the target building are also listed in Table 3.
Dampers can be installed as diagonal members, as part of a
chevron brace, horizontally at the top of a chevron brace, or as a
toggle brace [26,27]. The horizontal chevron conguration is
applied here as shown in Fig. 13. This system was proposed by
Lu and Zhou and tested on a shaking table in 2002 [28]. Two
viscous dampers are installed in parallel and supported by a steel
chevron brace. Lead rubber bearings are installed at the top of
the brace to keep the stability of the brace and to dissipate the
energy under minor earthquake. The viscous dampers with
maximum damping forces of 700 kN and 500 kN are rst selected
and the estimated installation number is given in Table 3.
3.3.2. Parameters of viscous dampers
Viscous dampers produced in Shanghai Research Institute of
Materials (SHRIM) are chosen in the target building. In Eq. (9), take
v = 200 mm/s and a = 0.2. When C is 250 kNs/mm and 200 kNs/
mm, the nal damping force is 721 kN and 577 kN, respectively.
A 120 mm free movement displacement is required for the SHRIM
viscous dampers.

characteristics of earthquakes vary, more analysis is needed to

check the effect of adding dampers.
3.4.2. Checking for additional damping ratio
The additional damping ratios calculated by Eq. (15) are tabulated in Table 5. It has been concluded that the average additional
damping ratios decrease with increasing peak ground accelerations
from 0.07 g, 0.2 g, to 0.4 g under various earthquake levels. All
damping ratios are less than the code limitation of 20% and need
not regulate the dampers. Fig. 17 shows the forcedisplacement
curves of one damper under minor, moderate, and major earthquakes, respectively. It does not reach its force capacity under minor level; however, under moderate earthquakes its full capacity is
exerted. The basic assumption in Section 2.1.1 that the dampers
should work at the full until moderate level is veried.
3.4.3. Checking for connecting structural members
3.4.3.1. Stiffness of the damping system. The stiffness of the damping
system is checked according to Eq. (20). One should note that for
the horizontal chevron conguration the damper and the chevron
are connected in series. Thus, their combined stiffness should be
considered. Kd is 140,000 N/mm as suggested by damper manufacturer. According to the analytical results, there is

K 0b 284; 000kN=mm
K c 22; 511kN=mm

3.3.3. Conguration of viscous dampers

Steel bracings with a section of H400  250  9  14 are designed, whose stiffness will be checked later. The nal plan layouts
of viscous dampers in the structure are shown in Fig. 14.
3.4. Second stage of design
3.4.1. Checking for structural deformations
Fig. 15 shows the maximum inter-story drifts of the structure
with viscous dampers under three earthquake scenarios. It can
be seen that with dampers, the structural deformation curves
apparently satisfy the code limitation of 1/550 for minor earthquakes and 1/50 for major earthquakes. Table 4 lists the effect of
the viscous dampers on the story shear forces. The story force
reductions under various earthquake levels are around 30%, which
accommodate the vested objectives. Fig. 16 gives the roof acceleration with and without viscous dampers under major earthquake
of El Centro. It can be seen that the accelerations in both directions
are effectively reduced. The PGA in X direction reduced from 0.82 g
to 0.65 g, and Y direction from 0.68 g to 0.60 g. Here the structural
responses under three ground motions are checked. If the dynamic

21

Thus,

1
K 0b

1
93; 774 > 3  K c 67; 533
K1

22

The stiffness of the damping system is enough to provide the

stiffness for the serviceability of dampers.
3.4.3.2. Internal forces of the columns. There are two objectives to
check the internal forces of the columns. One is to see if the
columns originally designed as intensity 7 could undertake loads
under seismic intensity 8. Another purpose is to make sure the
columns could transfer the additional forces induced by viscous
dampers. Table 6 gives the internal forces of a typical column
connected with the viscous dampers. The axial force, shear force
and the bending moment under minor earthquakes of intensity 7
without dampers are compared with those under minor earthquakes of intensity 8 with dampers. It is shown that the column
must have the capacity to sustain 16% additional internal forces.
The checking of the column indicates that the original design could
satisfy the requirement without further strengthening.

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Fig. 15. Maximum inter-story drifts of the structure with viscous dampers.

4. Conclusions and discussions

In this paper, a practical design method of reinforced concrete
structures with viscous dampers is put forward. The design process

is divided into two stages. In the preliminary stage, the quantity,

mechanical parameters and congurations of the viscous dampers
are determined. Then check on the structural deformations, the
additional damping ratio, and the connecting structural elements

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Table 4
Effect of the viscous dampers on the story shear forces.
Earthquake scenario

Floor

Shear force without dampers (Q0, kN)

Shear force with dampers (Qd, kN)

(Qd  Q0)/Q0 (%)

X direction

X direction

Y direction

Y direction

X direction

Y direction

Minor earthquake level

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

142
1430
2237
2694
3022
3464
3722

129
1556
2062
2282
2261
2701
3238

165
1444
1738
2091
2282
2070
2091

153
1369
1566
1833
1950
1884
1895

16
1
22
22
24
40
44

18
12
24
20
14
30
41

Moderate earthquake level

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

407
4087
6390
7697
8635
9898
10,630

371
4455
5902
6519
6461
7716
9252

350
3379
4332
5090
6195
6575
6626

330
3206
3774
4672
5489
5556
5376

14
17
32
34
28
34
38

11
28
36
28
15
28
42

Major earthquake level

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

813
8173
12,780
15,390
17,270
19,800
21,270

741
8910
11,800
13,040
12,920
15,430
18,500

627
6426
8832
11,230
13,360
14,130
14,220

597
6035
7326
9812
11,380
11,630
12,340

23
21
31
27
23
29
33

19
32
38
25
12
25
33

Fig. 16. Roof acceleration with and without viscous dampers under major earthquake of El Centro.

Table 5
Checking for the average damping ratio.
Earthquake scenario

X direction (%)

Y direction (%)

Minor earthquake level

Moderate earthquake level
Major earthquake level

19.4
12.0
7.4

19.8
13.4
7.6

(kN)

are performed in the second stage of design. An example is also given to demonstrate the application of the proposed method to retrot a RC frame structure by viscous dampers. It is concluded that
the damping forces could be estimated as 30% of the story forces in
the preliminary design. With viscous dampers designed by the

(kN)

(kN)

800

600

500
400

600

400

300

400

200

200

100

(mm)

0
-6

-4

-2

-100 0

6 -15

200

(mm)

0
-10

-5

10

15 -30

-10

10

20

30

-200

-200

-200

(mm)

0
-20

-400

-300
-400
-500

(a) Minor earthquake level

X1

-400

X2
Y2

Y1
-600

(b) Moderate earthquake level

Fig. 17. Forcedisplacement curves of a viscous damper.

-600
-800

(c) Major earthquake level

X3
Y3

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Y. Zhou et al. / Engineering Structures 39 (2012) 187198

Table 6
Internal forces of one column connected to the viscous dampers.
Internal force

Axial force (kN)

Shear force (kN)
Bending moment (kNm)

Minor earthquakes of seismic intensity 7 (without

dampers)

Minor earthquakes of seismic intensity 8 (with

dampers)

Change of the internal force

X direction

Y direction

X direction

Y direction

X direction

Y direction

4556
138
561

5059
96
347

4713
157
618

5326
112
404

1.03
1.14
1.10

1.05
1.16
1.16

method proposed here, the structure could satisfy the seismic

requirements of intensity increase from 7 to 8 after Wenchuan
Earthquake. Yet the following points should be noted:
(1) In the proposed method, the additional damping ratio is
obtained by estimating it for each story and sums those of
all stories. It implies the proposed design method is only
suitable for a regular structure where superposition applies.
(2) When estimating the damping force, the vested performance
objectives of RC structures are referred to predict the
displacement ratio of dampers. For wider engineered application, further research on the performance-based seismic
design of structures with viscous dampers is needed.
(3) Generally there are four types of damper installations and
the horizontal chevron conguration is applied in this paper.
The effect of different damper congurations on structural
retrotting could be an interesting research topic.

Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the nancial support in part from
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.
90815029, 5102114006 and 51078274), and National Basic
Research of China (Grant No. 2007CB714202). China Strong Motion
Network Center is much appreciated for their support on ground
motion earthquake records in Wenchuan Earthquake.
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