Author(s)

F. Bartera, L. Dezi & R. Giacchetti

Abstract

High damping rubber devices were implemented atop steel braces and connected to the girders of an R/C one bay-by-one bay single storey space frame in such a manner that the relative displacement between the floor and the braces gives a shear deformation to the rubber pads. The static as well as the dynamic behaviours of the bare frame and the supplementary damped braced frame have been thoroughly investigated under numerous types of tests in order to assess the stiffness and damping characteristics of the whole system and establish a comparison with the expected theoretical results. After a very large amount of sinusoidal cycles at increasing levels of frequency, force and displacement, no apparent stiffness and damping modifications were detected. A proper choice of damping ratio and secant st

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