Concept and performance testing of a high-capacity oil damper comprising multiple damper units

Summary There has been a significant increase in the size of building structures in recent years. Huge structures such as high‐rise buildings and large‐domed stadiums require high‐performance structural control, including the use of high‐capacity dampers, especially in an earthquake‐prone country like Japan. The objective of the present study was the enhancement of both human and structural safety in such structures through the development of a rate‐dependent type of damper with a high damping capacity. Among the various available types of rate‐dependent dampers, the authors focused on the oil damper owing to its stable performance against long‐duration vibrations. The target maximum damping force was 6000 kN, which is higher than that of any existing oil damper utilized in building structures. The authors developed a novel concept for achieving this high capacity while maintaining the size of the damper within acceptable dimensions from an architectural point of view. The concept involves the use of multiple damper units that produce mechanically parallel damping forces spatially arranged in series. As a prototype, a 1500‐kN oil damper was fabricated by combining three 500‐kN dampers. The 1500‐kN prototype damper was conceived as a full‐scale prototype of a damper that is more slender than comparable commercially available dampers in Japan, and as a scaled model of the proposed 6000‐kN damper. Sinusoidal loading tests were conducted on the prototype damper using a frequency range of 0.1–1.5 Hz and a velocity range of 0.4–300 mm/s. The results confirmed that the damper produced the design damping forces. The results of earthquake loading tests also revealed that the damper exerted a stable damping force against a large earthquake and maintained its performance after the earthquake. The damper is particularly effective against earthquakes with long‐period components that could increase the temperature of a damper. This is afforded by its high heat capacity compared to conventional dampers. Considering that the proposed 6000‐kN damper will generate a damping force that is about 2–3 times that of the strongest conventional oil damper, existing manufacturer test machines would be inadequate for evaluating its full performance characteristics. To address this issue, the authors also propose a test method for evaluating the overall damping force. The method is premised on the fact that the characteristic feature of the proposed damper is its combination of multi