Experimental and numerical investigations of a new hysteretic damper for seismic resilient steel moment connections

In this study, a novel hysteretic damper is proposed for beam-column steel connections to dissipate seismic energy. The proposed system is classified as a low-damage device and the energy dissipation in the connection is provided through the bending deformations in hourglass shape steel pins inside the hysteretic damper. At the first stage, full-scale experimental prototypes have been fabricated and tested in the dynamic testing laboratory. In the next stage, micro- and macro-modelings of the proposed device calibrated through the experimental testing have been investigated using ABAQUS and OpenSees platforms, respectively. Both experimental and finite element simulations indicated that the proposed damper has a high capacity of energy dissipation without a significant decline in the resistance through loading cycles. Applying this damper to the connection helps all structural members including beams and columns to maintain in the elastic region, and will improve the ductility and seismic resilience of the whole building structure. The proposed damper has the easiness of fabrication, installation, and replacement.