An experimental study on a steel multi-slit damper for seismic retrofit of soft-first story structures

In this research, the efficiency of a metallic energy dissipation device for seismic retrofit of an existing structure is evaluated by cyclic loading test. The proposed device, which is called multi-slit damper, is made of weak and strong slit dampers connected in series. Its energy dissipation mechanism consists of two stages: (i) yielding of the weak-slit damper under minor earthquakes; (ii) restraint of further deformations of the weak slit damper and activation of the strong slit damper under major earthquakes using a gap mechanism. A reinforced concrete (RC) frame with characteristics similar to soft-first-story structures is tested under cyclic loading before and after retrofit using the proposed device. The details of the experimental study are described and the test is simulated in an available commercial software to validate the analytical model of the damper. To further verify the applicability of the damper, it is applied to an analysis model of a 4-story structure with soft first story and its seismic performance is evaluated before and after retrofit. The experimental and analysis results show that the multi-slit damper is effective in controlling seismic response of structures.