Experimental study on mechanical properties of the hybrid lead viscoelastic damper

•A hybrid lead viscoelastic damper (HLVD) is proposed.•The effect of displacement, loading frequency, and fatigue loading is investigated.•The mechanical properties of the HLVD with the limit blocks are better.•The recoverability and failure pattern of HLVD are investigated.•The HLVD has a satisfactory energy-absorbing capacity under seismic loads. It is an effective strategy for improving the seismic performance of a building to install dampers to absorb seismic energy. This study presents a hybrid lead viscoelastic damper (HLVD), mainly composed of rubber, lead, and steel plates. The HLVD can be reused after an earthquake because of the hyper-elasticity of rubber and the dynamic recrystallization characteristics of lead. A series of laboratory tests using harmonic loading was conducted on three identical prototypes of the HLVD to verify its rationality and evaluate its mechanical behaviors, primarily including the effects of displacement amplitude, loading frequency, and fatigue loading on the mechanical properties of the HLVD. Experimental results indicated that the working mechanism and configuration of the HLVD are feasible and reasonable. The ultimate deformation capacity of the HLVD prototype reached up to 105 mm (equal to the rubber shear strain of 350 %). The mechanical properties of the HLVD at the shear strain range of 50% − 200% were insensitive to the loading frequency between 0.02 Hz and 0.1 Hz. After 30 cyclic fatigue loadings, no degradation of mechanical behaviors was found at 100 % and 200 % rubber shear strains, indicating the excellent recoverability of the HLVD. The equivalent viscous damping ratio of the HLVD was maintained between 34.67 % and 47.69 % in the shear strain range of 50 % to 350 %, representing its efficient energy absorption capacity.