Exploring the impact of excitation and structural response/performance modeling fidelity in the design of seismic protective devices

• Published in: Engineering structures Vol. 291; p. 115811
• Main Authors: Patsialis, D., Taflanidis, A.A., Giaralis, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.09.2023
• Subjects: Model fidelity; Non-stationary performance; Reduced order modeling; Risk-based design; Seismic protective device design; Seismic protective device design; Reduced order modeling; Model fidelity; Risk-based design; Non-stationary performance
• ISSN: 0141-0296; 1873-7323
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2023.115811

The design of seismic protective devices (SPDs), such as fluid viscous dampers (VDs), and inertial vibration absorbers (IVAs), requires the adoption of appropriate models for: (i) the earthquake excitation description (e.g. stochastic stationary/non-stationary versus recorded ground motions); (ii) the seismic structural response estimation (e.g. linear versus nonlinear/hysteretic); and (iii) the seismic performance quantification (e.g. average response versus risk-based performance description). This paper pursues a novel, detailed investigation of the impact of modeling fidelity in the design process of SPDs, by examining different combinations of models with different levels of sophistication for each of the aforementioned aspects. In this manner, a large model hierarchy is established, resulting in multiple SPD design variants. A bi-objective optimal design formulation is adopted, considering the structural vibration suppression (building performance) and device control forces as distinct, competing performance objectives (POs). Comprehensive comparisons are reported for a 3-storey and a 9-storey steel benchmark building, equipped with distributed VDs in all floors and with different types of single-device IVAs including the tuned-inerter-damper (TID), the tuned-mass-damper-inerter (TMDI) and the tuned-mass-damper (TMD). An innovative methodological approach is established to gauge the impact of the model fidelity by examining the deviation of POs achieved by lower fidelity SPD designs versus the Pareto-optimal fronts corresponding to POs consistent with the higher fidelity assumptions. The study overall stresses that that the use of lower fidelity models may provide sub-optimal performance in certain settings, and that comparison across the model hierarchy can be leveraged to obtain key insights of the SPD behavior. Additional key findings pertain to the robustness characteristics of the different type of SPDs to the modeling assumptions utilized for the device design. •The impact of modeling fidelity on the design of seismic protective devices (SPDs) is examined.•Investigation considered: excitation description, structural response estimation and seismic performance quantification.•Hierarchical models across the three aspects/descriptors of the design problem formulation are established.•A bi-objective design is adopted, enabling comparisons across a wide range of the SPD vibration efficiency•Computational efficiency is accommodated using reduced order structural modeling and random search optimization techniques