Seismic response of a tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD) coupled wall system

The authors propose a new tuned viscous mass damper (TVMD) coupled wall system for use in high-rise buildings. In this novel structural system, the TVMDs are arranged in a zig-zag configuration to couple wall piers in order to control both lateral inter-story drifts and floor accelerations. This novel structural system is used in this study to investigate the seismic performance of a 15-story prototype building. A nonlinear finite element model of the TVMD coupled wall (TCW system) is developed via the opensource finite element analysis software OpenSees. The TVMD is modeled by means of a newly compiled element named InertiaTruss, and the behavior of the coupled wall is simulated using a well-established multi-layer shell element approach. The seismic behavior of this novel TCW system is compared with walls coupled with conventional reinforced concrete beams (RCW system) and with viscous dampers (VCW system). The results indicate that, with a proper tuning design, seismic response parameters such as inter-story drift and floor acceleration are reduced by up to 16% and 28%, re-spectively, in the TCW system compared to the RCW system. The TCW system also shows better control of floor acceleration than the VCW system, though drifts are comparable. The force demands in the TVMD-to-wall joints are small due to the benefit of the TVMD zig-zag configuration. The analysis results also indicate that the effect of detuning in this new system is insignificant even when subjected to severe motions.