The damping properties of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/Norsorex^® blends were investigated by dynamic mechanical analysis. The effects of Norsorex on the damping properties of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/Norsorex blends were also studied. The results showed that 30-phr Norsorex could dramatically improve the damping of 70-phr acrylonitrile butadiene rubber. Compared with acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, the LA value of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/Norsorex = 70/30 increased to 7.3 × 10⁸ from 3.0 × 10⁸ Pa K and the TA value increased from 26.6 to 28.4 K. To test the new high-damping-performance blends, shaking table tests on a four-story steel frame with viscoelastic damping wall were designed and the simulations were provided for verification. The experimental results indicated that the viscoelastic damping wall controlled the inter-story displacement well under a_pg = 7 m/s², which exceeded the specified limit under uncontrolled conditions. The viscoelastic damping wall showed a better control effect on the displacement response than on the acceleration response subjected to El Centro ground motion for the second to fourth stories. The simulation results of SAP2000 structural analysis software showed good agreement with the experimental results. The differences between the acceleration and displacement time-history responses of the steel frame with acrylonitrile butadiene rubber and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/Norsorex (70/30) were simulated by SAP2000.

Excessive plastic deformation may occur at the beam-column joints under seismic action and lead to connection failure, increasing the possibility of collapse of the entire frame structure. In order to improve the seismic performance of assembled steel structure joints, a right-angle viscoelastic joint damper with polyurethane as the core energy dissipation material is proposed in this paper. First, the temperature scanning tests of polyurethane materials were carried out based on the dynamic mechanical analysis method. Second, the dynamic mechanical test and numerical simulation analysis of the designed right-angle viscoelastic damper were performed to reveal the dynamic energy dissipation characteristics of the right-angle damper. Finally, the dynamic time-history damping analysis was performed on the steel frame structure equipped with RVDs. The results show that the TA value of polyurethane material reached its peak at 2.0 Hz, which is the ideal frequency for the material’s damping ability. The right-angle damper made of polyurethane material has a softening nonlinear characteristic, and the peak value of the loss factor was obtained at 2.0 Hz, which is consistent with the results of the dynamic performance of the polyurethane material. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that stress on the steel plates and viscoelastic layers is reasonable. When the excitation level did not exceed 9 mm displacement amplitude, the energy input to the damper was dissipated by polyurethane, and the steel plates never showed plastic deformation. The time-history analysis of the steel structure shows that the dampers designed in this paper have a good control effect on the interstory displacement, acceleration, and interstory shear force of the structure. The research results lay the necessary foundation for the engineering application of polyurethane materials in the field of beam-column joints vibration damping.

This paper presented temperature scanning tests of the viscoelastic materials firstly. The temperature scanning tests were carried out by a Rheogel-E4000DMA analyzer and the results showed the modulus and loss factor of viscoelastic damping material. Secondly, the full-scale laboratory test of the “5+4” VDW was carried out. The test was conducted on an electrohydraulic servo tester. A new shear loading mode in the transverse direction was proposed for the VDW. And the maximum damping force, the storage stiffness, the loss stiffness, equivalent damping coefficient, the shear storage modulus, the shear loss modulus, and the loss factor were discussed in the text.

Considering the larger vibration amplitude and several viscoelastic material layers, a fractional-derivative Maxwell Kelvin (FDMK) viscoelastic mechanical model is proposed for “5+4” viscoelastic damping wall, which is used for vibration control of building structures. The development of the model is based on in-parallel combination of fractional Maxwell model and fractional Kelvin model. The proposed model is experimentally validated and very good agreement between predicted and experimental results was obtained. The results confirm that the FDMK model is accurate in simulating the hysteresis properties of the “5+4” viscoelastic damping wall under large deformation. From the areas of the experimental and theoretical hysteresis loops, under 300% strain, the predicted result is the most accurate in prediction of the energy dissipation and the second is the prediction under 450% strain. Moreover, from the comparisons of dynamic properties (storage modulus, loss modulus, etc.), the FDMK model works satisfactorily. The FDMK model is more sensitive in energy dissipation than in energy storage.