Optimum design of viscous dissipative links in wall-frame systems

This paper deals with the optimum design of fluid viscous dampers used as dissipative connections in wall-frame structural systems. The analyzed structure is composed of two substructures, the frames and the wall, and it is subject to a seismic acceleration. The optimum design is based on a 'global protection strategy', which aims at protecting both the substructures, i.e. both the frame and the wall. In this context, the authors formulate a multi-objective optimum design, where there are two conflicting objective functions: the displacement of the frame and the shear in the wall. Optimum Pareto solution is obtained. For this purpose, a genetic algorithm, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II, is adopted. The proposed method uses a global seismic protection strategy: this is a very important issue in modern technical codes, where several performance requirements are fixed and often conflicting.