Rhombus and hexagon mechanism damper system

Seismic dampers have become common for industrial and public buildings in recent years. Space design problem arises when dampers are installed as panel bracings. To address this problem, designers often install the dampers at span corners to avoid the space design problem. Still, some disadvantages, such as seismic force absorption by the dampers being too small due to the small relative displacements at the corners, remain. Rhombus and hexagon mechanism damper systems are described and proposed in the study. The main goal of the rhombus mechanism damper system is to magnify the relative displacement at the damper location and, then, increase the energy dissipation capacity, and the hexagon mechanism damper system can achieve the same goal as well. It can be proven that the proposed hexagon mechanism can perform the same functions as the rhombus mechanism presented. Furthermore, a damper with a bigger capacity can be installed in a hexagon mechanism to enhance the efficiency of dissipating the seismic induced energy. The performance of the hexagon mechanism damper system was examined through cyclic dynamic tests by using a hydraulic test machine to determine the behavior of the proposed hexagon damper system. Some numerical structural control examples of structures with the rhombus mechanism damper system installed are presented to show the control efficiency of the proposed structural control method.