Maximum seismic displacement of SDOF system with viscous damper based on the equal cyclic energy criteria

The seismic response of structure can be effectively decreased by energy dissipation by a viscous damper. This paper studies the relation between the maximum displacement response and the damping ratio based on the energy equation of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) elastic systems. A simplified relation for the maximum displacement response and the damping ratio was developed to satisfy the equal cyclic energy criteria. The results are comparable to numerical results from history dynamic analysis. The seismic response reduction of the resonance at dominant period of the earthquake ground motion is more effective. Therefore, this paper provides a method for the design of viscous damper energy dissipation seismic structures.