Hybrid Rate-Independent Maxwell–Wiechert Device for Seismic Control of Long-Period Structures

Since the highly destructive 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, rate-independent linear damping (RILD), which can simultaneously mitigate the displacement and acceleration responses of long-period structures, has received considerable attention. Difficulties in realizing RILD arise from noncausality, which contradicts conventional linear viscous dampers. To simultaneously control the displacement and acceleration responses of long-period buildings and causally approximate the RILD behavior, we developed a hybrid rate-independent Maxwell–Wiechert (HRiMW) device that passively approximates RILD. The parameters of the HRiMW device can be obtained using the proposed direct-design method. This study is based on numerical simulations of a 10-story long-period building model. The findings show that the HRiMW device exhibits considerably better performance than the tuned viscous mass damper and linear viscous damper and even outperforms RILD for mitigating the acceleration responses of long-period buildings, therefore offering an innovative approach for realizing noncausal RILD and the dynamic control of structures.