Cyclic degradation behavior and hysteretic modeling of corrugated steel plate–rubber viscoelastic dampers: Experimental and numerical investigation

A corrugated steel plate–rubber viscoelastic damper (CSRVD) is proposed, and its cyclic degradation characteristics and hysteretic behavior are investigated through experimental testing, theoretical modeling, and finite element analysis. The CSRVD exhibits stable and well-developed hysteretic responses, with pronounced strain-amplitude dependence and relatively weak frequency dependence. Increasing strain amplitude leads to reductions of 53.6% and 78.9% in the storage and loss shear moduli, respectively, indicating significant nonlinear softening. Under cyclic fatigue loading, the storage shear modulus decreases by approximately 18.5%, whereas the loss shear modulus remains relatively stable, resulting in increases of 22.57% in the loss factor and 19.0% in the equivalent damping ratio. A displacement- and degradation-dependent Bouc–Wen model (DID-BW) is developed to characterize the cyclic degradation behavior, and accurately reproduces the experimental responses, with prediction errors of key mechanical parameters below 10%. Parametric analysis further identifies the corrugation angle as a critical geometric parameter governing the deformation compatibility between the corrugated steel plates and viscoelastic layers, thereby significantly influencing the stiffness, hysteretic behavior, and energy dissipation capacity of the CSRVD.