Performance-based seismic design of tuned inerter dampers

This paper proposes a novel fully probabilistic framework for the performance-based seismic design of structures and uses tuned inerter dampers (TID) installed in civil engineering structures subjected to seismic loads to illustrate its applicability. The framework proposed is based on stochastic reduced-order models, which makes it computationally efficient and can be used for the design of TIDs installed in any complex nonlinear structures subjected to general nonstationary, non-Gaussian stochastic processes. In this study, the TID is installed in a multi-degree-of-freedom nonlinear structure that is subjected to synthetic seismic records. Numerical results show that the framework proposed is able to provide rigorous and robust values for the parameters of the TID. The design parameters obtained using the stochastic framework proposed are compared with benchmark deterministic approaches, tested also for a large data set of ground-motion real records. It is shown that the stochastic approach provides insightful designs of the TID that are consistent with the site seismicity and the frequency content of the stochastic excitation.