USING GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR THE OPTIMAL IN-STRUCTURE DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF FLUID VSCOUS DAMPERS IN THE EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT BUILDINGS

摘要

Fluid viscous dampers with linear or nonlinear behaviours dissipate the input seismic energy of structures on the principle of resistance of a viscous fluid to flow through a constrained opening. The seismic response of a structures equipped with the viscous dampers not only depends on the in-structure distribution pattern of the dampers but also on the geometric configuration of the dampers. To achieve a certain response reduction, the optimal design of the in-structure distribution pattern of the dampers is needed. In this paper the genetic algorithm has been applied for the calculations of the optimal number and optimal distribution of fluid viscous dampers in building structures. Viscous dampers with various geometric configurations, e.g. diagonal, chevron, scissor-jack, upper toggle and lower toggle configurations are considered. Reduction of inter-storey drifts and floor accelerations has been considered as the performance indexes. The results show that the genetic algorithm can be applied successfully in finding the optimal distribution of the dampers types.