Seismic performance of steel structures with slit dampers

During the Northridge and Kobe Earthquakes, many steel moment resisting frames suffered damage at the beam-to-column connections. In order to solve this problem, an innovative structural system with slit dampers was developed in this study, which could not only provide good seismic performance but could also be easily repaired after a heavy earthquake. In the proposed structural system, a mechanical joint is adopted that is equipped with a metallic damper as the beam-to-column connection. The main feature of this system is that plastic deformation is limited to the slit dampers at the bottom flange. The seismic performance of the proposed connection was verified through cyclic tests of three full-scale steel structures that had slit dampers and of one specimen that had a conventional welded moment resisting frame. Test results indicated that the proposed connection showed an excellent hysteretic behavior. In addition, the energy dissipation and plastic deformation in this system were concentrated only at the slit dampers, while the inelastic behavior of the beams and columns is prevented through appropriate capacity design.