Seismic response analysis of coupled building involving MR damper and elastomeric base isolation

Application of control devices for seismic hazard mitigation has emerged as an attractive and viable proposition over the years. Buildings in close proximity are prone to pound to each other, under seismic excitation. It has been observed during past earthquakes that pounding in adjacent buildings has caused significant structural damage. To meet this challenge, application of control devices has been investigated by researchers, under various coupled building control strategies.The present study investigates the comparative performance of three proposed schemes of coupled building control involving Magnetorheological (MR) damper and elastomeric base isolation, named as, Semiactive, Hybrid 1 and Hybrid 2. The results of numerical study showed that Hybrid controls are more effective in controlling the response as compared to Semiactive control. Further, influence of device parameters on control performance has been investigated through a parametric study.