Analytical Study on the Dynamic Properties

of Viscoelastically Coupled Shear

Walls in High-Rise Buildings
Deepak R. Pant, Ph.D. 1; Michael Montgomery, Ph.D. 2; and Constantin Christopoulos, M.ASCE 3
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Abstract: An innovative method of using viscoelastic (VE) dampers as coupling members between reinforced concrete shear walls has been
recently developed for enhancing the wind performance and seismic resilience of tall buildings. Although three-dimensional finite-element
models are used for the final design of such systems, fundamental analytical models that can be used to gain broader insights into their
dynamic response have not yet been developed. Therefore, in this paper a sixth-order partial differential equation governing the dynamic
properties of tall shear walls coupled using VE dampers is derived by explicitly taking into account the stiffness of the connecting elements as
well as that of the slab directly above the dampers. The governing equation is solved numerically using the Taylor series expansion method
and the periods and added damping ratios in various modes of vibration are evaluated. It is found that for given frequency independent VE
material properties, the added damping ratios of such systems are independent of the mass of the building. Analyses using a commercially
available VE damper by taking into account the frequency dependency of the VE material revealed that progressively higher maximum
damping ratios are achieved in higher modes of vibration. Based on the conclusions derived through the analytical formulation, recom-
mendations are provided for enhancing the efficiency of VE dampers in tall buildings. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0001247.
© 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Coupled shear walls; Damping ratio; Tall buildings; Viscoelastic dampers.

Introduction
The lateral load–resisting system of most modern tall buildings
(greater than about 50 m in height) throughout the world usually
consists of coupled reinforced concrete (RC) shear walls with or
without outriggers. As buildings get taller and more slender, reduc-
ing vibrations under frequent windstorms for occupant comfort as
well as reducing large forces induced by rare wind storms becomes
challenging. In addition, in seismic regions, RC shear walls and
coupling beams in tall buildings can suffer significant damage
under strong earthquakes (Rojas et al. 2011; Naeim et al. 2011).
Thus, the ability of structures to dissipate vibrational energy without
suffering damage to structural and nonstructural components and
contents is highly desirable. Since the inherent energy-dissipation
capacity or damping of buildings decreases with the increasing
height and since there is considerable scatter in the observed inher-
ent damping ratio of tall buildings (Satake et al. 2003; Smith and
Willford 2007), various passive supplemental energy-dissipation
devices such as tuned mass and liquid dampers, friction dampers,
viscous dampers, and viscoelastic (VE) dampers have been used in
1
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Toronto,
35 St. George St., Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A4. E-mail: deepak.
pant@utoronto.ca
2
Chief Structural Engineer, Kinetica, 203 College St., Suite 301A,
Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 1P9.
3
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Seismic Resilience of
Infrastructure, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Toronto, 35 St. George
St., Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 1A4 (corresponding author). E-mail:
c.christopoulos@utoronto.ca
Note. This manuscript was submitted on April 26, 2016; approved on
December 7, 2016; published online on March 22, 2017. Discussion period
open until August 22, 2017; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Engineering
Mechanics, © ASCE, ISSN 0733-9399.
the past to improve their dynamic response (Housner et al. 1997;
Soong and Dargush 1997; Christopoulos and Filiatrault 2006).
Among these, VE dampers inherently provide stiffness, which is
desirable in tall buildings to control drifts while also providing
damping from very low levels of wind-induced vibrations (because
of the solid nature of the damping material, which exhibits viscosity
even at micrometer-level deformations) to very large earthquake-
induced deformations.
The present study is focused on an innovative method of using
VE dampers as coupling members between RC shear walls that has
been recently developed and has shown great potential in enhanc-
ing the wind performance and seismic resilience of tall buildings
(Christopoulos and Montgomery 2013; MacKay-Lyons 2013;
Montgomery and Christopoulos 2015; Pant et al. 2015). One of
the most important parameters for assessing the effectiveness of
any type of damper in tall buildings for reducing wind effects is
the amount of added damping ratio in the first few modes of vibra-
tion, typically the first mode in each perpendicular axis and the tor-
sional mode of the building. Evaluating natural frequencies is also
important but existing methods can provide fairly good estimates.
On the other hand, determining the accurate amount of added
damping ratio is not trivial (Liang and Lee 1991; Charney and
McNamara 2008). Commonly used methods for determining the
added damping ratio using discrete finite-element (FE) models
are (1) the modal strain energy (MSE) method, also referred to
as the classical modal analysis method; (2) the complex modal
analysis method employing state-space formulation; and (3) a free
vibration response history analysis (RHA) induced by imposing
loads that excite the structural system in the mode of interest.
The first method may significantly underestimate or overestimate
the damping ratios in some instances where the added damping is
not classical in nature, while the latter two methods are more robust
and provide nearly identical results for systems with linear damping
devices (Charney and McNamara 2008). Since commonly used FE

© ASCE 04017047-1 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 programs for analysis of buildings such as ETABS, Perform-3D,
and OpenSees lack complex modal analysis features, a more
time-consuming free vibration RHA needs to be performed. It is
difficult, if not impossible, to obtain frequencies and damping ra-
tios in higher modes using the free vibration RHA method. Particu-
larly in the case of VE dampers, additional complexity arises as
their stiffness and energy-dissipation properties are strain, fre-
quency, and temperature dependent. Moreover, these FE programs
are useful for analysis of specific structures with given material
properties and member dimensions but the results cannot be gen-
eralized to provide guidance on the design of damped systems for
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
other structures. A very time-consuming trial and error analysis
needs to be performed for optimum damper design using such pro-
grams. In addition, as the added damping ratio of structures with
VE dampers is affected by a number of parameters, results of some
of the previous FE studies (e.g., MacKay-Lyons 2013) seem
counterintuitive, where it has been found that smaller dampers
sometimes result in larger damping ratios when compared with
larger dampers positioned in the same locations. Therefore, there
was a pressing need to develop more-fundamental analytical mod-
els involving nondimensional parameters, which can provide direct
and accurate estimates of vibration periods as well as damping ra-
tios in several modes of vibration, and which can be used to gain
broader insights into the dynamic response of such systems for
rapid assessment and for efficient and optimum preliminary damp-
ing design.
Most previous analytical studies on coupled wall systems have
been focused on evaluating natural frequencies of vibration without
considering any energy dissipation devices or dampers (e.g.,
Skattum 1971; Mukherjee and Coull 1973; Tso and Rutenberg
1974; Chai and Chen 2009). Because of its simplicity and appli-
cability to tall buildings, the continuum approach, wherein the
properties of shear walls and the connecting medium are assumed
constant along the height of the building, is the most popular ap-
proach of analysis and it is also adopted in the present study.
Although such solution methods and derived findings are accurate
for buildings with uniform properties along the height, by an
appropriate selection of average properties they can be used for
preliminary design of buildings with nonuniform properties (Smith
and Coull 1991; Miranda and Reyes 2002). In the continuum
method, the governing equation of motion for free-vibration analy-
sis of coupled walls is a sixth-order partial differential equation
whose closed-form solution is theoretically possible but is practi-
cally cumbersome, and accordingly numerical methods are used to
obtain solutions (Mukherjee and Coull 1973; Chai and Chen 2009).
In order to avoid the complexity of dealing with sixth-order differ-
ential equations, an alternate method wherein the deflected shape of
coupled shear walls is assumed to be a combination of a flexure
beam and a flexure-shear beam (Rutenberg 1975), and hybrid
methods (Li and Choo 1996; Aksogan et al. 2014) have also been
developed. More-efficient methods wherein the coupled wall sys-
tem is replaced with a sandwich beam have also been developed
and Potzta and Kollár (2003) and Tarján and Kollár (2004) have
provided useful formulas for the stiffness of such replacement
beams. Nonetheless, studies on shear walls coupled with dampers
are quite limited. In one such study, Lavan (2012) used the con-
tinuum method to derive a fourth-order differential equation gov-
erning the response of shear walls with viscous dampers by
neglecting axial deformation of the walls and by assuming that
the entire system can be uncoupled into a system consisting of
a stiffness medium and a damping medium. In a more-recent study,
Faridani and Capsoni (2016) derived a fourth-order differential
equation for the analysis of shear walls coupled using viscous
and VE dampers. The solution methods of Lavan (2012) and
© ASCE 04017047-2
J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047
Faridani and Capsoni (2016) are in general not applicable to tall
coupled-wall buildings where axial deformations of the walls play
an important role. Moreover, the formulations presented in these
previous studies do not take into account the effects of the stiffness
of the connecting elements as well as that of the slab directly above
the damper, which can have significant impact on the damping
ratios of tall walls coupled using VE dampers. Several studies fo-
cused on comparable systems comprising sandwich beams with VE
layers have also been carried out (e.g., Mead and Markus 1969;
Mead 2007; Palmeri and Ntotsios 2016). Systems of elastic beams
with interlayer slip representative of composite structures are also
similar, and Adam et al. (1997) and Heuer and Adam (2000) among
others have analyzed such systems by assuming a linear constitu-
tive relationship for the intermediate layer and modal viscous
damping. None of the previous studies, however, have accurately
examined tall coupled-wall systems with VE dampers by explicitly
taking into account the influence of the stiffness of the connecting
elements and slab.
In the present study, the continuum method is used to obtain the
dynamic properties of tall buildings by conducting an analytically-
based free vibration analysis of tall shear walls coupled using VE
dampers. A sixth-order partial differential equation governing the
response is derived by explicitly taking into account the effects of
the stiffness of the connecting elements as well as that of the slab
directly above the damper. With the aid of appropriate boundary
conditions, the governing equation is numerically solved and the
accuracy of the solution method is verified. For shear walls coupled
using some commercially available VE dampers, numerical results
are presented in the form of nondimensional plots of damping ratios
and frequencies that can be directly used for preliminary damping
design. The effects of various critical parameters on the response of
such systems are systematically investigated. Recommendations
for enhancing the efficiency of VE dampers in tall buildings are
also provided.
Problem Formulation
Consider two shear walls coupled using VE dampers subjected to
uniform distributed loading of intensity w per unit height as shown
in Fig. 1(a). The story height of the building is constant and the
properties of the walls and dampers are constant along the height.
Axial and bending deformation of the walls are taken into account
while shear deformations are neglected, which, as will be demon-
strated later, are reasonable assumptions for tall buildings. The
behavior of shear walls is assumed to be linear elastic, and plane
sections before bending remain plain after bending. A rigid dia-
phragm assumption is used at each floor, meaning that horizontal
displacements of both the walls at each floor level are equal. The
inherent damping of the system, which is usually very small for tall
buildings, is neglected.
Following the approach of Smith and Coull (1991), it is as-
sumed that the vertical medium is cut along the midspan of the
connecting medium as shown in Fig. 1(b). The forces acting at
the cut lamina are the shear force of intensity qðzÞ per unit height
and axial forces of intensity nðzÞ per unit height. The axial force in
each wall at any level z from the base of the wall is given as
Z H
NðzÞ ¼ qðzÞdz ð1Þ
z
where H = total height of the walls.
Consider the condition of vertical compatibility along the mid-
span of the connecting medium. Here, the sign convention is that a
J. Eng. Mech.
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the coupled wall system under lateral load (adapted from Smith and Coull 1991): (a) equivalent continuum model; (b) internal
forces after cutting along the midspan of the connecting medium; for walls with equal properties d1 ¼ d2 ¼ ww

Fig. 2. (a) Undeformed configuration of the coupled walls; (b) deformed configuration with deformation in the dampers and slabs exaggerated (using
different scale factors)

Fig. 3. Relative vertical displacement components along midspan of the connecting medium: (a) bending of walls; (b) axial deformation of walls;
(c) shear deformation of the damper (assumed to be lumped at the midspan); slabs are not shown for clarity

Z
positive relative displacement refers to the end of the left side of the dyðzÞ A z
lamina moving downwards relative to the end of the right side of δ1 ¼ l ; δ2 ¼ − NðzÞdz ð2Þ
dz EA1 A2 0
the lamina. The undeformed and the deformed configurations of a
portion of the system are shown in Fig. 2. There are three compo- where yðzÞ = lateral displacement; l = center-to-center distance of
nents of the relative vertical displacement along the midspan of the the walls; A1 and A2 = areas of individual walls; A ¼ A1 þ A2 =
connecting medium. The first and second components of the rel- total area; and E = modulus of elasticity of the walls.
ative vertical displacement δ 1 and δ 2 [Figs. 3(a and b)] are caused, The third component of the relative vertical displacement
respectively, by the bending of the walls, and the axial deformation δ 3 is due to shear strain in the VE dampers [Fig. 3(c)]. Here a
of the walls and are given as (Smith and Coull 1991) Kelvin-Voigt representation of the VE damper is used to derive

© ASCE 04017047-3 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Fig. 4. Schematic representation of the process of obtaining the equivalent Kelvin-Voigt representation of the damper

the expression for δ 3. The dampers are connected to the walls using
steel beams embedded into the walls and there are slabs directly
above the dampers. Therefore, the parameters of the Kelvin-Voigt
model are obtained by taking into account the effects of the stiff-
ness of the connecting element as well as that of the slab directly
above the damper, which can have significant effects on the per-
formance of viscoelastically coupled shear walls. For this purpose,
the force-deformation relationship of a VE damper is F ¼ k u,
where F is the shear force, u is the shear deformation, and k is
the complex stiffness given by
k ¼ kd ð1 þ iηÞ
where kd = stiffness of the VE damper; and η = loss factor of the VE
material. Here, the effects of the stiffness of the connecting ele-
ments as well as that of the slab are taken into account in two steps
(Fig. 4). In the first step, the effect of the connection stiffness is
taken into account through the effective properties computed by
conducting a series combination of the stiffness of the connecting
elements kc and the complex stiffness [Eq. (3)] of the VE damper,
leading to
rk kd
kd0 ¼ ð1 þ iηÞ
rk þ ð1 þ iηÞ
where rk ¼ kc =kd . In the second step, the effect of the slab stiffness
ks is taken into account by adding ks to kd0 (i.e., parallel combi-
nation), which upon substituting rs ¼ ks =kd and using the shear
modulus instead of the shear stiffness leads to the equivalent com-
plex shear modulus
Ge ¼ G 0 ec ð1 þ iηÞ þ rs G 0
which takes into account the stiffness of the connecting element as
well as that of the slab directly above the damper, where
rk G 0
ec ¼ ð6Þ
rk G0 þ G 0 ð1 þ iηÞ
where G 0 = storage modulus of the VE material. An infinitely large
value of rk corresponds to the case of rigid connections, while rs ¼
0 corresponds to the case of zero slab stiffness. In general, values of
G 0 and η are strain, frequency, and temperature dependent.
ð3Þ To verify the correctness of the expression shown in Eq. (5),
a commercially available VE damper with kd ¼ 113 kN=mm;
cd ¼ 57.8 kN · s=mm (damping coefficient of the VE damper);
kc ¼ 625 kN=mm; and ks ¼ 16.5 kN=mm was considered
(Montgomery et al. 2014). Using Eq. (5), these values lead to Ge ¼
138.5 þ 74i kPa. To verify this value, the damper was separately
modeled as a single-degree-of-freedom system as shown in
Fig. 4, and it was then subjected to harmonic strain time history
γ ¼ γ 0 sinðω0 tÞ, where γ 0 ¼ 1 is the amplitude of the strain defined
as the VE deformation divided by the thickness of the VE layer, and
ω0 ¼ 1.57 rad=s is the angular frequency of excitation (correspond-
ing to a period of 4 s). As shown by the analysis results in Fig. 5(a),
ð4Þ
the stress time history is given as τ ¼ τ 0 sinðω0 t þ θÞ, where τ 0 is
the stress amplitude and θ=ω is the phase difference between the
stress and strain time histories. From the stress-strain hysteresis
loop shown in Fig. 5(b), ReðGe Þ ¼ 138.5 kPa and ImðGe Þ ¼
74 kPa, which agree with the values obtained from Eq. (5), thus
verifying the accuracy of the expression.
Using the stress-strain relationship of the VE damper (including
the effects of the connection and the slab) γ ¼ −τ =Ge , the third
ð5Þ component of the relative displacement is obtained as

180
1.0 τ0=|Ge*|γ0
τ /τ0
|Ge*|
120
γ/γ0
0.5 Im(Ge*) = τ0sinθ
60 Re(Ge*)
τ /τ0 and γ/γ0

θ/ω0
τ (kPa)

0 0 γ0
γ0sinθ
γ/γ0=sin(ω0 t) -60
-0.5
-120
τ/τ0=sin(ω0 t+θ )
-1.0 -180
0 1 2 3 4 -100 -50 0 50 100
(a) t (s) (b) γ (%)

Fig. 5. Verification of the expression for the equivalent complex stiffness of a VE damper by taking into account the stiffness of the connecting
elements as well as that of the slab: (a) normalized stress and strain time histories; (b) stress-strain hysteresis

© ASCE 04017047-4 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 qðzÞ where m = mass per unit height of the walls. Differencing Eq. (14)
δ3 ¼ − ð7Þ
Ge ne twice with respect to z, making using of partial derivatives, and
substituting Eq. (16) yields
where ne ¼ nAve =htve , where n = number of VE layers; Ave = area  
of each VE layer; h = story height; and tve = thickness of each ∂ 6 yðz; tÞ 4
 0 ∂ yðz; tÞ 1 ∂ 4 yðz; tÞ 2
 0 ∂ yðz; tÞ
− G α ¼ −m þ G β m
∂z6 ∂z4 ∂z2 ∂t2 ∂t2
e e
VE layer. EI
Since under lateral loads there is no relative vertical displace- ð17Þ
ment at the midspan of the connecting medium
Using the principle of separation of variables, the lateral vibra-
δ1 þ δ2 þ δ3 ¼ 0 ð8Þ tion is assumed to be of the form yðz; tÞ ¼ YðzÞeiωt , where ω is the
angular frequency of vibration, which in general is complex-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

However, the preceding condition is strictly true if the stiff-

valued. Substituting this expression of yðz; tÞ in Eq. (17) and upon
nesses of the two walls are the same. Nonetheless, it is expected
simplifying
to provide reasonably accurate results for the cases of different wall
stiffnesses commonly used in most typical applications. A different d6 YðzÞ 4
 0 d YðzÞ mω2 d2 YðzÞ  0 mω
2
formulation could be used if the stiffnesses of the two lateral force − G α − þ G β YðzÞ ¼ 0
dz6 dz4 EI dz2
e e
EI
resisting systems are significantly different (Smith and Coull 1991;
Zalka 2009). Substituting the values of δ1 to δ3 in Eq. (8) ð18Þ
Z z Nondimensionalizing by Ȳ ¼ Y=H and z̄ ¼ z=H
dyðzÞ A qðzÞ
l − NðzÞdz −  ¼ 0 ð9Þ
dz EA1 A2 0 Ge n e d6 Ȳðz̄Þ d4 Ȳðz̄Þ mω2 4 d2 Ȳðz̄Þ mω2 6
6
− Ge α 0 H 2 4
− H 2
þ Ge β 0 H Ȳðz̄Þ ¼ 0
The moment-curvature relationships for each wall at any level z dz̄ dz̄ EI dz̄ EI
are (Smith and Coull 1991) ð19Þ

d2 yðzÞ Substituting, λ4 ¼ mω2 H 4 =EI, α4 ¼ Ge α 0 H2 , and β 4 ¼ Ge β 0 H2 ,

EI 1 ¼ M 1 ðzÞ ¼ MðzÞ − ðb=2 þ d1 ÞNðzÞ − M a ðzÞ ð10Þ where λ is the nondimensional complex frequency parameter yields
dz2
the required governing equation of motion as follows:
d2 yðzÞ d6 Ȳðz̄Þ d4 Ȳðz̄Þ d2 Ȳðz̄Þ
EI 2 ¼ M2 ðzÞ ¼ −ðb=2 þ d1 ÞNðzÞ þ M a ðzÞ ð11Þ − α4 − λ4 þ β 4 λ4 Ȳðz̄Þ ¼ 0 ð20Þ
dz2 dz̄ 6 dz̄ 4
dz̄2
where I 1 and I 2 = moment of inertias of individual walls; M 1 ðzÞ where
and M 2 ðzÞ = moments in each wall; MðzÞ = total applied moment;  
and M a ðzÞ = moment caused by axial forces in the connecting Ge ne H2 l2 A Ge ne H2 A
medium. Addition of Eqs. (10) and (11) yields α4 ¼ þ ; β4 ¼ ð21Þ
E I A1 A2 E A1 A2
MðzÞ EI d2 yðzÞ The two governing parameters of the response α and β are in-
NðzÞ ¼ − ð12Þ
l l dz2 dependent through l2 =I. For the case of walls with equal properties
with area A1 and A2 equal to Aw and with width d1 and d2 equal to
where I ¼ I 1 þ I 2 = total moment of inertia. Differentiating Eq. (9)
ww , the total moment of inertia is I ¼ 2Aw w2w =12. For this case,
with respect to z and substituting the value of qðzÞ obtained from
further assuming that I and A cannot be varied independently, α
differentiating Eq. (1) leads to
and β become independent through l2 =w2w or simply l=ww, which
d2 yðzÞ A 1 d2 NðzÞ can be varied independent of I and A. This property will be used to
l 2
− NðzÞ þ  ¼0 ð13Þ present the numerical results in this paper.
dz EA1 A2 Ge ne dz2

By substituting the value of NðzÞ from Eq. (12) in Eq. (13), one
has Boundary Conditions and Solution Methodology
 
d4 yðzÞ 2
 0 d yðzÞ 1 d2 MðzÞ  0
The boundary conditions (Fig. 1) required to solve Eq. (20) are as
− G α ¼ − G β MðzÞ ð14Þ follows. At the base of the walls, i.e., at z ¼ 0, the displacement,
dz4 dz2 dz2
e e
EI
rotation, and shear flow qðzÞ in the connecting medium are equal to
where zero, respectively, implying
 
n e l2 A ne A Ȳð0Þ ¼ 0 ð22aÞ
α0 ¼ þ ; β0 ¼ ð15Þ
E I A1 A2 E A1 A2
dȲð0Þ
Eq. (14) is the governing equation of motion of shear walls ¼0 ð22bÞ
coupled using VE dampers under static loading shown in Fig. 1(a). dz̄
By D’Alembert’s principle, the dynamic equation of motion can be
d5 Ȳð0Þ d3 Ȳð0Þ
derived from Eq. (14) by including inertia forces in addition to the − ðα4 − β 4 Þ ¼0 ð22cÞ
external forces. In the case of free vibration, however, the external dz̄5 dz̄3
forces vanish, leading to (Mukherjee and Coull 1973)
At the roof, i.e., at z ¼ 1, the axial force, rate of change of shear
∂ 2 Mðz; tÞ ∂ 2 yðz; tÞ flow in the connecting medium, and rate of change of the bending
¼ −m ð16Þ
∂z2 ∂t2 moment (or total shear force) are equal to zero, implying

© ASCE 04017047-5 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 d2 Ȳð1Þ Verification by Comparison with Finite-Element
¼0 ð22dÞ Analysis Using Discrete Formulation
dz̄2

d4 Ȳð1Þ Three buildings were considered for the verification: a 40-story, a

− λ4 Ȳð1Þ ¼ 0 ð22eÞ 60-story, and an 80-story building. A review of tall and supertall
dz̄4 buildings where the authors have been involved as consultants re-
veals that the typical range of parameters in such buildings is as
d5 Ȳð1Þ d3 Ȳð1Þ dȲð1Þ follows. Compressive strength of concrete f c0 is 35–75 MPa, wall
− α4 − λ4 ¼0 ð22fÞ
dz̄ 5 dz̄3 dz̄ thickness tw is 250–900 mm, l=ww is 1.12–2.24, and aspect ratio of
total height to total width is 8–12. Here, it is recalled that l is the
The required solution can be assumed to be of the form
center-to-center distance of the walls and ww is the wall width (with
Ȳðz̄Þ ¼ eγ z̄ , substitution of which in Eq. (20) yields the hexic poly-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

both walls having equal width, i.e., d1 ¼ d2 ¼ ww ). The modulus

nomial
of elasticity of concrete per the American Concrete Institute (ACI)
pffiffiffiffiffi
γ 6 − α4 γ 4 − λ4 γ 2 þ β 4 λ4 ¼ 0 ð23Þ standard ACI 318-11 (ACI 2011) in MPa was taken as 4,700 f c0 .
The alternate formula for the modulus of elasticity of high-strength
Upon solving the preceding equation to find the roots γ 1 concrete (>41 MPa) suggested in Los Angeles Tall Buildings
through γ 6 , the solution of Eq. (20) can be expressed as Structural Design Council (LATBSDC 2015) per ACI 363 R-92
(ACI 1992) was not used in this study. Based on this range, the
Ȳðz̄Þ ¼ C1 eγ1 z̄ þ C2 eγ 2 z̄ þ C3 eγ 3 z̄ þ C4 eγ4 z̄ þ C5 eγ 5 z̄ þ C6 eγ 6 z̄ parameters chosen for the coupled wall systems are given in Table 1.
ð24Þ Here, identical properties for both the walls were assumed and a
constant story height of 3 m was used. A commercially available
where C1 through C6 = constants whose values can be determined VE damper, which consisted of 18 panels of 5-mm-thick, 560 ×
using boundary conditions Eqs. (22a)–(22f). Mathematica was 430 mm ISD-111H VE material, was also used. Thus, for this
used in this study to solve the polynomial [Eq. (23)] but the expres- damper n ¼ 18, tve ¼ 5 mm, and Ave ¼ 240,800 mm2 . It has been
sions are not shown in this paper for brevity. Using the boundary found that for a typical range of operation, the properties of the
conditions and Eq. (24) yields a set of algebraic equations of ISD-111H material do not appreciably depend on strain amplitude
the form BC ¼ 0, where B is the coefficient matrix and C is and accordingly a strain of 100% of the thickness of the VE layer
the vector of constants C1 through C6 . To achieve nontrivial solu- was then used in this study. A constant temperature of 26°C was
tions, the determinant of the coefficient matrix must vanish, used and the frequency-dependent properties of the VE material
i.e., jBj ¼ 0. This results in the characteristic equation, which were obtained by linear interpolation from the data derived from
can be solved numerically to obtain values of λ corresponding the manufacturer-specified properties given in Table 2. The analysis
to each mode of vibration. The frequency ωn and damping ratio method developed in this paper was used to evaluate the periods
ξ inpeach mode of vibration
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi can then be computed respectively and damping ratios in the first three modes of vibration. For veri-
as Reðλ4 ÞEI=ðmH 4 Þ and Imðλ4 Þ=½2Reðλ4 Þ. fication, comparable analyses were carried out using discrete
The numerical solution method adopted in this study is the elements in ETABS and using an in-house FE program written
Taylor series expansion method also used by Chen et al. (2010). in MATLAB. In particular, MATLAB uses the FE method to form
A brief description of the solution method is provided herein. A stiffness, damping, and mass matrices and employs a state-space
comprehensive discussion of various solution strategies can be formulation (Goel 2001) to conduct complex modal analysis.
found elsewhere (Singh 2016). Let fðλÞ be equal to jBj, which Moreover, no further assumptions are made in the discrete method;
leads to in particular, shear deformations in the walls were also considered.
Equivalent center-line models of the walls with rigid offsets to sim-
fðλÞ ¼ 0 ð25Þ
ulate the wall width were used for all the analyses in ETABS and
being the characteristic equation, solution of which yields λ. For MATLAB. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the VE damp-
particular values of the governing parameters, the numerical solu- ers, which are required in the FE method, are computed as kd ¼
tion is started by assuming a value of the root λ and checking if G 0 nAve =tve and cd ¼ kd η=ωn . It was verified that the results of
that value satisfies Eq. (25). If the assumed value does not satisfy
Eq. (25), a new estimate of the root is calculated based on the Table 1. Parameters of the Buildings Considered for Verification in This
Taylor series expansion as follows: Study
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
h i ffi Concrete Wall Damper Total tributary
iÞ dfðλi Þ 2 d2 fðλi Þ
− dfðλ
dλ  dλ − 2fðλ i Þ dλ2
Number strength Wall width thickness length weight
λiþ1 ¼ λi þ ð26Þ of stories (MPa) ww (mm) (mm) (mm) (mN)
2
d fðλ Þ i
dλ2 40-story 50 5,000 500 1,200 44.4
60-story 60 8,000 800 1,500 187.3
where λi = current root; and λiþ1 = new estimate of the root. The 80-story 70 9,000 900 2,000 265.6
preceding expression leads to two roots, and the root that more
closely satisfies (with smaller error) Eq. (25) is selected. This pro-
cedure is repeated until the value of λ satisfies Eq. (25) or two sub- Table 2. Properties of the ISD-111H Viscoelastic Material at 26°C and
sequent estimates of λ are equal. The convergence of the solution is 100% Shear Strain
dependent on the initial estimate of the value of λ. In the present
Frequency (Hz) Storage modulus G 0 (kPa) Loss factor η
study, the initial estimates of λ are equal to the eigenvalues of un-
coupled cantilever walls with fixed-free boundary conditions de- 0.1 96.0 0.694
noted as Ω. The values of Ω taken from the work by Han et al. 0.3 141.8 0.840
(1999) are equal to 1.875, 4.694, and 7.855, respectively, for the 1.0 234.0 1.0
3.0 394.2 1.098
first three modes of vibration.

© ASCE 04017047-6 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 Table 3. Verification of the Analytical Solution in Comparison with Results Using FE Method for Buildings with Different Heights
Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3
Number
of Period or This FE Difference This FE Difference This FE Difference
stories damping ratio study method (%) study method (%) study method (%)
40-story Period (s) 3.87 3.98 3 0.7 0.73 4 0.26 0.28 7
Damping ratio 0.046 0.047 2 0.116 0.118 2 0.143 0.138 3
60-story Period (s) 5.86 5.97 2 1.1 1.14 3 0.43 0.45 5
Damping ratio 0.055 0.057 2 0.126 0.128 2 0.151 0.147 3
80-story Period (s) 7.84 7.96 1 1.48 1.51 2 0.57 0.59 4
Damping ratio 0.05 0.051 2 0.121 0.125 3 0.149 0.15 1
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

Note: Difference = percentage difference calculated with respect to the FE method of analysis.

the complex modal analysis in the MATLAB program agree well
with the results from the free vibration RHA in ETABS. For brevity,
results of analysis using the method proposed in this study are com-
pared with the results obtained using the FE method in MATLAB in
Table 3. As can be observed from the table, the method developed
in the present study leads to first-mode periods and damping ratios
that are within 3% of the results obtained using the FE method. The
periods obtained from the FE method are slightly larger because of
the consideration of the shear deformation in those models. The
accuracy of the results increases with the increasing height of the
building because a continuum assumption is increasingly more ap-
propriate for taller structures. Although first-mode periods and
damping ratios are of primary interest in the wind analysis of tall
buildings, modal properties in higher modes are also needed in seis-
mic analysis. The comparison provided in Table 3 for higher modes
also shows that the present study provides periods and damping
ratios that are within 7% of those obtained from the FE method
of analysis.
One of the interesting observations from the analytical formu-
lation presented herein is that the nondimensional complex fre-
quency parameter λ depends only on two parameters: α and β
[Eq. (20)], which do not depend on the structural mass other than
through the frequency-dependent VE material specific values of G 0
and η. This is important, as it means that if the values of G 0 and η
can be assumed independent of the frequency of vibration, the
value of λ and accordingly the damping ratio calculated as
Imðλ4 Þ=½2Reðλ4 Þ, are independent of the structural mass, even
though the period of vibration always depends on the mass. To fur-
ther demonstrate this, additional analyses were carried out for the
three buildings using the FE method in MATLAB by halving the
mass (0.5m) and doubling it (2m), where m is the mass per unit
height of the building. For each building in these analyses, the
values of G 0 and η were computed using the frequency with mass
m and were kept constant for the cases of 0.5m and 2m. The results
of the analyses for the first mode of vibration as plotted in Fig. 6
clearly demonstrate that for each building, while the period of
vibration significantly depends on the mass, the damping ratio
is independent of the mass.
Numerical Results and Discussion
In order to investigate the variation of damping ratios and frequen-
cies depending on the governing parameters of the response,
numerical analyses were carried out for the cases where the proper-
ties of the two walls are identical and dampers with ISD-111H VE
material are used. As mentioned before, for such systems, the free
vibration response is only dependent on the values of l=ww and β.
Here, it is useful to rewrite the expression of β [Eq. (21)] for the
case of walls with equal properties as follows:
2Ge ne H
β4 ¼ ð27Þ
ðEAw =HÞ
where Aw = cross-sectional area of each wall. For the numerical
results, three typical values of l=ww ¼ 1.12, 1.68, and 2.24 are con-
sidered, whereas ReðβÞ ¼ 0–5 is used.
From Eq. (27) it is clear that ReðβÞ ≈ 0 corresponds to the case
of uncoupled cantilever walls as it is achieved for a given height of
the building and story height when either the modulus of elasticity
E or the wall area Aw are infinitely large or the damper size reflected
by the value of ne is extremely small. On the other hand, as it will
be evident later, ReðβÞ ≈ 5 corresponds to the case of rigidly
coupled cantilever walls as it is achieved when either E or Aw
are extremely small or ne is infinitely large. Here, for a particular

12 0.5m 0.057
m
10 2m
0.054
Damping ratio
Period (s)

8
0.051
6
0.048
4

2 0.045
y y y
or
y
or
y
or
y or or or
-st -st -st -st -st -st
40 60
80 40 60 80

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. Evaluation of the effects of mass on the period and damping ratio in the first mode of vibration of the buildings with different heights obtained
using the FE method; m is the mass per unit height of the building and the values of G 0 and η were computed using the frequency with mass m

© ASCE 04017047-7 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 1.5
0.16 l ww = 1.12; rk = 10, 000; rs = 0

Mode 1 1.4
0.12 Mode 2

Damping ratio
Mode 3 1.3

Re(λ) /Ω
0.08
1.2

0.04
1.1

0 1
1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

(a) Re (β ) (b) Re (β )

Fig. 7. Variation of the damping ratio and normalized ReðλÞ in first three modes of vibration of the coupled wall system for l=ww ¼ 1.12,
rk ¼ 10,000, and rs ¼ 0; ISD-111H viscoelastic material was used in the analyses

value of l=ww , ReðβÞ is varied by essentially changing ne while
keeping H2 =EAw constant, which is a common factor in α and
β. For the results presented herein, the real part of the nondimen-
sional complex frequency parameter i.e., ReðλÞ for each mode of
vibration, is normalized by the corresponding eigenvalue Ω of the
uncoupled cantilever walls (Han et al. 1999). For all the analyses, a
constant temperature of 26°C and a strain of 100% were used and
the frequency-dependent properties of the VE material correspond-
ing to each mode of vibration were iteratively computed by con-
ducting a linear interpolation from Table 2.
The damping ratio and the normalized ReðλÞ for the first three
modes of vibration are plotted in Fig. 7 for l=ww ¼ 1.12 assuming a
perfectly rigid connection i.e., rk ¼ 10,000 and negligible slab
stiffness, i.e., rs ¼ 0. In each mode of vibration, the damping ratio
first increases with the increasing ReðβÞ and then decreases with
further increase in ReðβÞ [Fig. 7(a)]. This means that there exists an
optimum value of β for which the damping ratio is maximum. The
results also show that progressively higher maximum possible
damping ratios can be achieved in higher modes of vibration.
For this case, the maximum possible damping ratio in the first three
modes of vibration is 0.108, 0.128, and 0.146, respectively. Fur-
thermore, the damping ratio in different modes peaks at different
ReðβÞ and that the ReðβÞ for given material properties, wall dimen-
sions, and damper sizes is different in different modes of vibration
because of the frequency dependency of the properties of the VE
material [Eq. (27)]. Evaluation of the modal properties in the fun-
damental mode of vibration, i.e., the first mode, is the most impor-
tant and therefore, unless noted otherwise, discussion from here
onward is focused on the first mode of vibration. It is interesting
to observe that the damping ratio in the first mode peaks when
ReðβÞ is close to unity. As will be shown later, this trend holds
true for all the cases examined in this study. It was thus found that
the maximum first-mode damping ratio can be achieved when the
axial stiffness of each wall, i.e., EAw =H is nearly twice the total
stiffness of the dampers, i.e., ReðGe Þne H [Eq. (27)]. It has been
found that ReðβÞ > 1 for typical applications, which means that
in order to achieve higher damping for a given height of the build-
ing, either the size of the damper is to be reduced or the stiffness
of the walls is to be increased [Fig. 7(a)]. In either case, the fun-
damental frequency can be obtained from Fig. 7(b). Figs. 7(a and b)
can be jointly used as a tool to optimize the wall dimensions and the
damper size to achieve the desired amount of added damping ratio
and associated frequency.
Influence of Connection Stiffness
The stiffness of the connecting elements, which usually needs to be
computed by taking into account the cracking at the face of walls,
plays an important role in the modal properties of such systems.
Therefore, analyses were carried out for different values of the con-
nection stiffness in comparison with the stiffness of the damper,
i.e., rk ¼ 10,000 (rigid connection), 10, 5, and 1. Fig. 8 presents
the results for the case of l=ww ¼ 1.12 and negligible slab stiffness,
i.e., rs ¼ 0. It is clear that the value of the connection stiffness with
respect to the stiffness of the damper has a significant influence on
the damping ratio [Fig. 8(a)] and as expected, it does not have so
much of an influence on the ReðλÞ and by extension on the
frequency of vibration [Fig. 8(b)]. The case of rk ¼ 1 is easily
achievable as it means that the stiffness of the damper and that of
the connecting element are nearly equal. Nonetheless, such an

1.5
0.10 rk = 10,000
rk = 10 1.4
0.08 rk = 5
Damping ratio

rk = 1 1.3
Re(λ) /Ω

0.06
l ww = 1.12; rs = 0
0.04 1.2

0.02 1.1

0 1
1 2 3 4 5 0 2 2 3 4 5
(a) Re (β ) (b) Re (β )

Fig. 8. Effects of the connection stiffness on the damping ratio and normalized ReðλÞ in the first mode of vibration of the coupled wall system for
l=ww ¼ 1.12 and rs ¼ 0; ISD-111H viscoelastic material was used in the analyses

© ASCE 04017047-8 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 1.5
0.10 rs = 0
rs = 0.5 1.4
0.08 rs = 1

Damping ratio
l ww = 1.12; rk = 10, 000 1.3

Re (λ) /Ω
0.06
1.2
0.04

0.02 1.1

0 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

(a) Re (β ) (b) Re (β )

Fig. 9. Effects of the slab stiffness on the damping ratio and normalized ReðλÞ in the first mode of vibration of the coupled wall system for l=ww ¼
1.12 and rk ¼ 10,000; ISD-111H viscoelastic material was used in the analyses

2
0.16 l/ww=1.12
l/ww=1.68 1.8
0.12 l/ww=2.24
Damping ratio

1.6

Re(λ) /Ω
0.08 rk = 10, 000; rs = 0
1.4

0.04 1.2

0 1
1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
(a) Re (β ) (b) Re (β )

Fig. 10. Variation of the damping ratio and normalized ReðλÞ in the first mode of vibration of the coupled wall system for different l=ww ratios for
rk ¼ 10,000 and rs ¼ 0; ISD-111H viscoelastic material was used in the analyses

approach could be highly inefficient [Fig. 8(a)], as the maximum
possible damping ratio could be reduced by as much as 56%
(from 0.108 to 0.047). Therefore, it is beneficial to increase the
value of rk to maximize the added damping for a given damper
design. One may be tempted to provide extremely large steel beams
as connecting elements in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of
the dampers. Nonetheless, from the trends shown in Fig. 8(a), a
value of rk in the range of 5–10 is sufficient to ensure efficiency
of the dampers, as the maximum possible value of the damping
ratio for this range of rk is reduced by less than 20% compared
with the damping ratio obtained using an extremely large value
of rk ¼ 10,000.
Influence of Slab Stiffness
Another important factor that has an effect on the effectiveness of
the dampers is the stiffness of the slabs directly above the dampers.
Here, analyses were carried out for different values of the slab stiff-
ness in comparison with the stiffness of the damper, i.e., rs ¼ 0,
0.5, and 1. Fig. 9 presents the results for the case of l=ww ¼
1.12 and a rigid connection i.e., rk ¼ 10,000. It is seen that rs
has a significant influence on the damping ratio [Fig. 9(a)] and
as expected, it does not noticeably affect the frequency of vibration
[Fig. 9(b)]. The results show that if the stiffness of the slab is nearly
equal to that of the damper, i.e., rs ¼ 1, the maximum possible
damping ratio is reduced by 46% (from 0.108 to 0.058). On the
other hand, if rs ¼ 0.5, the maximum possible damping ratio is
reduced by 30% (from 0.108 to 0.076). Therefore, it is recom-
mended to minimize the stiffness of the slabs directly above the
damper to increase its efficiency. Usually slabs develop cracks
even under service-level windstorms and their actual stiffness is
significantly less than the gross stiffness, which has a positive effect
on the efficiency of the dampers. Nonetheless, to ensure high effi-
ciency it is recommended to design special details for the slabs on
the top of the dampers so that they do not contribute to the stiffness
and do not impede the movement of the dampers
Influence of l=w w Ratio
The final parameter that has a significant effect on the damping
ratios and frequencies of coupled wall systems with VE dampers
is the ratio of the center-to-center distance of the walls to the wall
width, i.e., l=ww . Analysis results using l=ww ¼ 1.12, 1.68, and
2.24 are shown in Fig. 10 by assuming a rigid connection,
i.e., rk ¼ 10,000 and negligible slab stiffness, i.e., rs ¼ 0. Unlike
the effects of the stiffness of the connection and that of the slab, this
parameter has significant effects on the damping ratio [Fig. 10(a)]
as well the frequencies [Fig. 10(b)]. Higher damping ratios are
obtained for larger values of l=ww [Fig. 10(a)]. The difference be-
tween the maximum possible damping ratio obtained using the
two extreme cases of l=ww is 65%. Thus, the efficiency of the
dampers can be significantly enhanced by increasing the center-
to-center distance of the walls or by reducing the wall widths. This
parameter seems to be the best way to enhance the effectiveness of
the dampers, particularly for wind loading, where a reduction in the
vibration period is beneficial. This is because Figs. 10(a and b)
demonstrate that by increasing the value of l=ww , not only does
the damping ratio increases but also does the ReðλÞ, which means
a reduction in the period of vibration for given mass, material prop-
erties, and building height.

© ASCE 04017047-9 J. Eng. Mech.

J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047

 Practical Applications
Practicing engineers can use the plots in Figs. 7–10 to gain insight
into the behavior of tall buildings employing viscoelastically
coupled shear walls that otherwise cannot be obtained from a
FE model. These results have been presented for typical values
of parameters in tall buildings when ISD-111H VE dampers are
used and thus one can directly use them to conduct preliminary
damping designs. A few iterations are still required before arriving
at an optimum value of the parameters as the ReðβÞ is frequency
dependent and a balance between added damping and change in the
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
vibration frequency needs to be achieved in real applications, but
time-consuming FE analyses need not be conducted in the prelimi-
nary design phase. Final design decisions should, however, be con-
firmed using advanced nonlinear analyses on three-dimensional FE
models of the damped structure. The tools and methods developed
in this study are general and their use is not restricted to the par-
ticular case of the VE material, i.e., ISD-111H, used to obtain the
numerical results presented herein.
Concluding Remarks
A sixth-order partial differential equation governing the dynamic
properties of tall shear walls coupled using viscoelastic (VE) damp-
ers was derived by explicitly taking into account the stiffness of the
connecting elements as well as that of the slab directly above the
damper. With the aid of appropriate boundary conditions, the gov-
erning equation was numerically solved using the Taylor series
expansion method. For given frequency-independent VE material
properties, the added damping ratio of such systems was found to
be independent of the mass of the building. The accuracy of the
analysis method was verified against results from a separate pro-
gram employing a discrete formulation and complex modal analy-
sis. Extensive numerical analyses were carried out for tall shear
walls coupled using dampers with a commercially available VE
material ISD-111H, considering frequency dependency of the
VE material response and the results were presented in the form
of widely applicable nondimensional parameters. The effects of
critical parameters on the modal properties of such systems were
systematically investigated. For the range of parameters considered
in this study, the frequencies of vibration were not found to be af-
fected significantly by changes in the stiffness of the connecting
elements and that of the slab. In contrast, changing the ratio of
center-to-center distance of the walls to the wall width had signifi-
cant effects on the vibration frequencies. More interesting were the
results related to the added damping ratios of such systems, where
for the first three modes of vibration, it was found that progres-
sively higher maximum damping ratios are achieved in higher
modes of vibration. It was also found that a connecting element
that is at least 5–10 times stiffer than the VE damper minimizes
the adverse effects of lower connection stiffness on the damping
ratio. A reduction in the stiffness of the slabs enhances the effi-
ciency of the dampers as well. Increasing the center-to-center dis-
tance of the walls or reducing the wall width was found to be the
most efficient way of achieving higher damping. The equations and
the analysis method developed in this study are general and their
use is not restricted to the particular case of the VE material used in
this study.
References
ACI (American Concrete Institute). (1992). “State-of-the-art report on high-
strength concrete.” ACI 363 R-92, Farmington Hills, MI.
© ASCE
J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047
ACI (American Concrete Institute). (2011). “Building code requirements
for structural concrete.” ACI 318-11, Farmington Hills, MI.
Adam, C., Heuer, R., and Jeschko, A. (1997). “Flexural vibrations of elastic
composite beams with interlayer slip.” Acta Mech., 125(1-4), 17–30.
Aksogan, O., Turkozer, C. D., Emsen, E., and Resatoglu, R. (2014).
“Dynamic analysis of non-planar coupled shear walls with stiffening
beams using continuous connection method.” Thin Wall. Struct.,
82(0), 95–104.
Chai, Y., and Chen, Y. (2009). “Reexamination of the vibrational period
of coupled shear walls by differential transformation.” J. Struct. Eng.,
10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000059, 1330–1339.
Charney, F., and McNamara, R. J. (2008). “Comparison of methods for
computing equivalent viscous damping ratios of structures with added
viscous damping.” J. Struct. Eng., 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2008)
134:1(32), 32–44.
Chen, Y., McFarland, D., Wang, Z., Spencer, B., Jr., and Bergman, L.
(2010). “Analysis of tall buildings with damped outriggers.” J. Struct.
Eng., 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000247, 1435–1443.
Christopoulos, C., and Filiatrault, A. (2006). Principles of passive supple-
mental damping and seismic isolation, IUSS Press, Pavia, Italy.
Christopoulos, C., and Montgomery, M. (2013). “Viscoelastic coupling
dampers (VCDs) for enhanced wind and seismic performance of
high-rise buildings.” Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 42(15), 2217–2233.
ETABS version 15.2.0 [Computer software]. Computers and Structures,
Berkeley, CA.
Faridani, H. M., and Capsoni, A. (2016). “Investigation of the effects of
viscous damping mechanisms on structural characteristics in coupled
shear walls.” Eng. Struct., 116, 121–139.
Goel, R. K. (2001). “Simplified analysis of asymmetric structures with sup-
plemental damping.” Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 30(9), 1399–1416.
Han, S. M., Benaroya, H., and Wei, T. (1999). “Dynamics of transversely
vibrating beams using four engineering theories.” J. Sound Vibr.,
225(5), 935–988.
Heuer, R., and Adam, C. (2000). “Piezoelectric vibrations of composite
beams with interlayer slip.” Acta Mech., 140(3-4), 247–263.
Housner, G., et al. (1997). “Structural control: past, present, and future.”
J. Eng. Mech., 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(1997)123:9(897), 897–971.
LATBSDC (Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council).
(2015). “An alternative procedure for seismic analysis and design of
tall buildings located in the Los Angeles region.” Los Angeles.
Lavan, O. (2012). “On the efficiency of viscous dampers in reducing vari-
ous seismic responses of wall structures.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn.,
41(12), 1673–1692.
Li, G.-Q., and Choo, B. S. (1996). “A continuous-discrete approach to the
free vibration analysis of stiffened pierced walls on flexible founda-
tions.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 33(2), 249–263.
Liang, Z., and Lee, G. C. (1991). “Damping of structures. Part 1: Theory of
complex damping.” Technical Rep. NCEER-91-0004, National Center
for Earthquake Engineering Research, Univ. at Buffalo, State Univ. of
New York, Buffalo, NY.
MacKay-Lyons, R. (2013). “Performance-based design of RC coupled
wall high-rise buildings with viscoelastic coupling dampers.” Master’s
thesis, Univ. of Toronto, Toronto.
Mathematica 10.0 [Computer software]. Champaign, Wolfram, IL.
MATLAB 8.5 [Computer software]. MathWorks, Natick, MA.
Mead, D. J. (2007). “The measurement of the loss factors of beams and
plates with constrained and unconstrained damping layers: A critical
assessment.” J. Sound Vibr., 300(3-5), 744–762.
Mead, D. J., and Markus, S. (1969). “The forced vibration of a three-layer,
damped sandwich beam with arbitrary boundary conditions.” J. Sound
Vibr., 10(2), 163–175.
Miranda, E., and Reyes, C. (2002). “Approximate lateral drift demands
in multistory buildings with nonuniform stiffness.” J. Struct. Eng.,
10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2002)128:7(840), 840–849.
Montgomery, M., and Christopoulos, C. (2015). “Experimental validation
of viscoelastic coupling dampers for enhanced dynamic performance of
high-rise buildings.” J. Struct. Eng., 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X
.0001092, 04014145.
Montgomery, M., MacLean, K., Christopoulos, C., and Kokai, T. (2014).
“Design of a slender building with high-performing VE dampers.”
04017047-10 J. Eng. Mech.
 CTBUH 2014 Shanghai Conf., Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat, Chicago.
Mukherjee, P., and Coull, A. (1973). “Free vibrations of coupled shear
walls.” Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 1(4), 377–386.
Naeim, F., et al. (2011). “Performance of tall buildings in Santiago, Chile
during the 27 February 2010 offshore Maule, Chile earthquake.” Struct.
Des. Tall Spec. Build., 20(1), 1–16.
OpenSees version 2.5.0 [Computer software]. Univ. of California,
Berkeley, CA.
Palmeri, A., and Ntotsios, E. (2016). “Transverse vibrations of viscoelastic
sandwich beams via Galerkin-based state-space approach.” J. Eng.
Mech., 142(7), 04016036.
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY on 05/19/19. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Pant, D. R., Montgomery, M., Berahman, F., Baxter, R. P., and
Christopoulos, C. (2015). “Resilient seismic design of tall coupled shear
wall buildings using viscoelastic coupling dampers.” 11th Canadian
Conf. on Earthquake Engineering, Canadian Association for Earth-
quake Engineering, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Perform-3D version 5.0.1 [Computer software]. Computers and Struc-
tures, Berkeley, CA.
Potzta, G., and Kollár, L. P. (2003). “Analysis of building structures by
replacement sandwich beams.” Int. J. Solids Struct., 40(3), 535–553.
Rojas, F., et al. (2011). “Performance of tall buildings in concepción during
the 27 February 2010 moment magnitude 8.8 offshore Maule, Chile
earthquake.” Struct. Des. Tall Spec. Build., 20(1), 37–64.
Rutenberg, A. (1975). “Approximate natural frequencies for coupled shear
walls.” Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn., 4(1), 95–100.
© ASCE 04017047-11
J. Eng. Mech., 2017, 143(8): 04017047
Satake, N., Suda, K., Arakawa, T., Sasaki, A., and Tamura, Y. (2003).
“Damping evaluation using full-scale data of buildings in Japan.”
J. Struct. Eng., 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2003)129:4(470),
470–477.
Singh, K. V. (2016). “Eigenvalue and eigenvector computation for discrete
and continuous structures composed of viscoelastic materials.” Int. J,
Mech. Sci., 110, 127–137.
Skattum, K. S. (1971). “Dynamic analysis of coupled shear walls and
sandwich beams.” Technical Rep. EERL 71-06, Earthquake Engi-
neering Research Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
CA.
Smith, B. S., and Coull, A. (1991). Tall building structures: Analysis and
design, Wiley, New York.
Smith, R. J., and Willford, M. R. (2007). “The damped outrigger concept
for tall buildings.” Struct. Des. Tall Spec. Build., 16(4), 501–517.
Soong, T. T., and Dargush, G. F. (1997). Passive energy dissipation systems
in structural engineering, Wiley, Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.
Tarján, G., and Kollár, L. P. (2004). “Approximate analysis of building
structures with identical stories subjected to earthquakes.” Int. J. Solids
Struct., 41(5), 1411–1433.
Tso, W., and Rutenberg, A. (2009). “Discussion on paper by A. Coull and
PR Mukherjee—Approximate analysis of natural vibrations of coupled
shear walls.” Earthquake Eng. Struct. Dyn., 3(1), 105.
Zalka, K. A. (2009). “A simple method for the deflection analysis of tall
wall-frame building structures under horizontal load.” Struct. Des. Tall
Spec. Build., 18(3), 291–311.
J. Eng. Mech.