Seismic performance of viscoelastically damped structures at different ambient temperatures

Experimental results show that mechanical behaviors of viscoelastic dampers are greatly affected by ambient temperature. Neglecting the ambient temperature effect will lead to an inaccurate seismic evaluation on viscoelastically damped structures. This study investigates the ambient temperature effect on the seismic performance of viscoelastically damped structures. An efficient algorithm is proposed to solve the seismic response of viscoelastically damped structures at different ambient temperatures based on the time–temperature correspondence. Numerical simulations of a ten-story viscoelastically damped steel frame under historical earthquakes are presented to illustrate the ambient temperature effect on the seismic performance. The results show that the natural frequency decreases with the increase in ambient temperature, whereas the damping ratio change with ambient temperature greatly depends on the viscoelastic damper properties. The seismic displacement reduction, in general, decreases with the increase in ambient temperature. The seismic acceleration reduction with ambient temperature is affected by the viscoelastic damper properties, structural parameters, and earthquakes together.