Saw type seismic energy dissipaters: development and cyclic loading test

This study presents the experimental, numerical and theoretical studies of a high ductility and energy dissipation capacity passive energy dissipation device called the Saw Type Seismic Energy Dissipaters (STSED), which is expressly developed for building protection during earthquakes. STSED has a series of specially shaped metallic yielding elements capable of dissipating energy by flexural yielding. STSED's key feature is its design that allows for the use of more metallic yielding elements than the existing systems in the literature while simultaneously allowing for a pinned connection with a framing system. The device is presented in detail along with the accompanying equations used to design the prototype. The shape of metallic yielding elements were designed and experimentally optimized in order to reduce stress concentration when subjected to cyclic loadings. Thus, damage was effectively distributed throughout the entire height of the metallic yielding elements. The performance of the prototype was also experimentally tested under cyclic loading. Test results showed that the STSED has both stable and symmetric hysteretic behavior under cyclic loads with high-energy dissipation and no sudden strength degradation. Furthermore, experiments verified that cyclic performance can be accurately estimated using the design equations and nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis as presented in the paper.