Seismic response control of base-isolated structures with fluid inerter damper

This study investigates the response of a multi-story base-isolated building with traditional bearings supplemented by fluid inerter dampers (FID). The structure is modelled as a multi-storey shear structure. The governing equations of motion of the multi-story isolated buildings with FID are derived and numerically integrated to obtain the seismic response. Following that, four recorded earthquake ground motions are applied, and various response quantities are evaluated. The response quantities of interest are base displacement and top floor acceleration. In this work, the effect of the ratio of FID inertance to total mass of isolated structures and the effect of the number of stories on the acceleration and displacement response of the structure are evaluated. The FID has indeed been found to be an effective supplemental device for traditional base isolated buildings in reducing their response during seismic excitations.