Development and modeling of a frictional wall damper and its applications in reinforced concrete frame structures\

A wall-type friction damper is newly proposed in this paper to improve the performance of reinforced concrete (RC) framed structures under earthquake loads. Traditionally, the damper was generally invented as a brace-type member. However, it has been seen to cause problems in the RC frame structures in that concrete is apt to be damaged in the connection regions of the RC member and the brace-type damper under earthquake loads. The proposed wall-type damper has an advantage in the retrofit of RC structures. The system consists of a Teflon((R)) slider and a RC wall. The damper is also designed to control normal pressures acting on a frictional slider. The numerical applications show that the proposed damper can be effective in mitigating the seismic responses of RC frame structures and reducing the damage to RC structural members. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.