Experimental and numerical study of an elliptical roller damper under cyclic loading

This paper presents a detailed experimental and numerical investigation of a novel structural control device termed the Elliptical Roller Damper. This innovative damper integrates rollers into the conventional elliptical damper, a yielding type, enabling it to sustain substantial gravity loads. This capability notably alleviates the dead load imposed on other components within the gravity load-bearing system. Initially, two prototypes of the damper were subjected to cyclic displacement-controlled loading, demonstrating stable hysteresis curves characterized by significant energy dissipation capabilities. Further experimental evaluations under varied gravity loads affirmed that these loads exert negligible impact on the operational effectiveness of the damper. Numerical simulations were performed using the finite element software Abaqus to explore additional parameters influencing the damper's behavior. It was ascertained that the friction coefficient does not substantially affect the damper’s lateral strength. However, modifications in the material properties, particularly the adoption of higher-strength steel, markedly enhance the lateral strength of the damper. Additionally, alterations in the geometric configuration of the damper were analyzed. The results indicated that increasing the thickness of the elliptical section and reducing its height significantly bolstered the lateral strength of the damper. Quantitatively, the enhancements in strength were exponential to the adjustments in thickness, and disproportionately greater relative to the changes in height. In contrast, modifications to the length of the flat section were found to be inconsequential, while adjustments to the width modestly influenced the damper’s performance. The relationship between changes in strength and width alterations was linear.