Development of a Multiple Coil Magneto-Rheological Smart Damper to Improve the Seismic Resilience of Building Structures

The incremental research progress on Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper and its response motivated many researchers and engineers to focus on this topic in the last decade.

MR damper is classified as a semi-active vibration controlling device owing to its mechanical simplicity, low power usage, large response reduction, perfect damping mechanism, good stability, quick reaction time and robust interface.

In the current investigation, experimental studies were performed for the design, development, and testing of a new type of MR damper. A proposed approach was adopted for the magnetic generation using multi-coils to produce more shear force in the flow gap. The study investigates time history responses of the proposed system under an array of strong ground motions at both element and structure levels. Numerical hybrid simulation using OpenSees has also been carried out on a building structure to show the effectiveness of the new device.

The performance of the investigated structure equipped with the proposed system indicates a large reduction in displacement and an increase in damping force under major seismic events.