U-Shaped Steel Damper under cyclic loading Abaqus

Product Overview

In this example, we intend to simulate the U-Shaped Steel Damper under cyclic loading in the Abaqus software.

As it can be observed in the shape, the left side of the damper is fixed, and a cyclic loading is applied to the right side of the damper. The purpose of this problem is to obtain the hysteresis diagram of the damper.

U-Shaped Steel Damper

The U-Shaped Steel Damper is a metallic yielding damper designed to dissipate seismic energy through the inelastic deformation of its steel members.

The energy-dissipating part of the damper consists of two vertical members connected by a semicircular member, forming the U-shaped configuration.

Under cyclic loading, the vertical members undergo significant flexural deformation and yielding. These members therefore form the main energy dissipation zones of the damper.

The semicircular connecting member helps control the deformation of the damper and limits excessive lateral deformation during cyclic loading.

Experimental Setup

In the experimental setup, four identical U-shaped steel dampers are installed between the shear plates. The dampers are arranged symmetrically to reduce eccentric deformation and distribute the applied force between the dampers.

The dampers are connected to the shear plates, which are attached to the loading frames. One loading frame is fixed to the bottom steel frame, while the other loading frame is connected to the actuator.

Vertical movement of the movable loading frame applies shear deformation to the dampers through the loading plates and their connections.

The experimental specimen is subjected to repeated cyclic displacement to investigate the force–displacement response, deformation, and energy dissipation of the U-shaped steel dampers.

Cyclic Loading

The U-Shaped Steel Damper is subjected to displacement-controlled cyclic loading in Abaqus to reproduce the experimental loading protocol.

The target displacement is increased to ±15 mm, producing repeated deformation in both directions.

Hysteresis Diagram

The main purpose of this analysis is to obtain the Force-Displacement hysteresis diagram of the U-shaped steel damper.

The hysteresis diagram is obtained from the Abaqus results and is used to evaluate the behavior of the damper under cyclic loading.

Comparison of Abaqus and Experimental Results

In this picture, the Force-Displacement hysteresis diagram obtained from the Abaqus software is compared with the results gained from laboratory tests.

As you can observe, the results obtained from the Abaqus software are similar to the experimental results.

The enclosed areas within the hysteresis loops represent the energy dissipated by the damper during cyclic loading.

Validation

This project has been validated, which means that the results obtained from the Abaqus software are similar to the results reported in the article.

In other words, this project is based on the reference article and the numerical model has been developed to reproduce the behavior of the U-shaped steel damper under cyclic loading.

What You Will Learn

• How to model a U-shaped steel damper in Abaqus.
• How to define the geometry of the damper.
• How to define the boundary conditions.
• How to fix one side of the damper.
• How to apply cyclic loading to the damper.
• How to define the cyclic loading amplitude.
• How to obtain the Force-Displacement hysteresis diagram.
• How to compare the Abaqus results with laboratory test results.
• How to validate the numerical model using the reference article.

Key Features

• U-shaped steel damper modeling in Abaqus.
• Cyclic loading analysis.
• Fixed boundary condition on one side of the damper.
• Cyclic loading applied to the other side.
• Force-Displacement hysteresis diagram.
• Comparison between Abaqus and laboratory test results.
• Validation against the reference article.
• Complete Abaqus CAE file.
• Abaqus INP file.
• Excel amplitude loading file.
• Excel results file.
• Reference research paper.
• Step-by-step video tutorial.

Reference

This project is based on the reference research article. The paper is included with the project files and can be used to review the experimental model, loading protocol, and reported results.