Experimental Investigation and Structural Response Analysis of Self-Centering Composite Viscoelastic Dampers

Integrating viscoelastic material, steel, and shape memory alloy (SMA), the SCVD delivers staged energy dissipation and reliable self-centering. Cyclic tests and numerical simulations compared three composite viscoelastic dampers (CVDs): lead-core (LCVD), Q235 steel-core (QCVD), and SMA-core (SCVD).

Their hysteretic behavior, energy dissipation, self-centering, and stiffness degradation were systematically evaluated. Results show the SCVD activates early—responding sensitively at small displacements—and sustains stable energy dissipation under large deformations, with markedly reduced residual deformation versus conventional dampers. QCVD achieves peak energy dissipation at moderate displacements; LCVD engages rapidly at small drifts, yielding stable parallelogram loops and high initial efficiency—but its damping force is limited by lead core strength.