Development and investigation of an innovative shape memory alloy cable‐controlled self‐centering viscoelastic coupling beam damper for seismic mitigation in coupled shear wall structures

Abstract To improve the seismic performance of coupled shear walls in high‐rise buildings and to eliminate the problems of large residual deformation and relatively small initial stiffness and damping properties of the traditional viscoelastic coupling beam damper (TVCBD), an innovative shape memory alloy (SMA)‐cable‐controlled self‐centering viscoelastic coupling beam damper (SVCBD) with energy dissipation and self‐centering capabilities was designed and investigated in this study. The construction form and operating principles of the SVCBD were proposed, relevant material performance tests of the cables were performed, and good results were obtained. Finally, the contribution of the SVCBD to seismic mitigation of a 10‐story reinforced concrete coupled shear wall structure was verified by seismic time‐history analyses. The results indicated that compared with TVCBD, SVCBD possesses fuller hysteretic curves, showing stronger energy dissipation capacity, higher initial stiffness, and much smaller residual deformation. The initial strain and cross‐sectional area of the SMA cables and the shear area of the viscoelastic plates affect the energy dissipation and self‐centering performance of SVCBD significantly. The seismic response and post‐earthquake residual deformation of the coupled shear wall structure and the plastic damage of the main components can be effectively controlled by utilizing the proposed SVCBD.