Combination of an innovative instrument with a viscous damper to control the structure vibrations

Viscous dampers play a major role in controlling the structure and are used in various forms in many buildings. Low amplitude displacement and velocity of structures is one of the problems of using viscous dampers. An innovative instrument has been proposed in the present work that like scissors converts low displacement and velocity of the structure to much higher displacement and velocity of the viscous damper. Two connection methods are suggested to connect the instrument to the viscous damper. The results demonstrated the capabilities of the instrument as a high performance apparatus. The instrument which was called “Folding Variable Stiffness Spring” (FVSS) was used for stiffness adjustment of the mass dampers, even though in the present study stiffness changeability has not been employed. The production cost of the instrument is affordable and its connection and usage in the buildings, especially in the second proposed method, is convenient.