Optimization of steel panel damper design for seismic moment frames

Abstract

The proposed steel panel damper (SPD) consists of one middle inelastic core (IC) and two end elastic joint (EJ) wide-flange sections. During earthquakes, the two EJs are designed to remain elastic while the IC could undergo large inelastic shear deformations. Stiffeners are devised for IC web to delay the buckling. In this study, optimization algorithms are adopted to proportion the SPDs and the boundary beams. Two identical one-half SPDs from above and below are attached to the boundary beam mid-span. Variables include the SPD, beam spans, beam cross sections and the doubler plate thickness. The MATLAB optimization toolbox is adopted to find the designs using minimum weight of the aforementioned SPDs-beam assembly as the objective function. Constraints include the capacity design and stability design requirements. The lateral stiffness of the lightest subassembly can evaluated and enhanced by either increasing the SPD or beam stiffness. As examples, optimized design results of increasing 50% more stiffness of the subassemblies as the addition constraint are presented. While complying with all constraints, the steel weight is increased only by about 9% to achieve the 50% more stiffened design. The stiffness of the subassemblies is found enhanced most effectively by increasing the beam depths and web thicknesses. ? Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2020.