Development of an Electromagnetic Shape Memory Alloy Friction Dammper for Civil Infrastructures

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award is a collaborative research among researchers from the City College of New York (CCNY), the University of Tokyo, and the Kyoto University, Japan. The objective of this project is to develop a new and advanced semi-active electromagnetic shape-memory alloy friction damper for protecting buildings and other civil infrastructures against strong winds and earthquakes. The new semi-active electromagnetic shape-memory alloy friction damper to be developed has significant advantages and potential over other semi-active control systems currently under development. Specific objectives of this project are: (i) to develop a semi-active electromagnetic friction damper, (ii) to develop a semi-active electromagnetic shape-memory alloy friction damper, (iii) to demonstrate the performance of the proposed advanced semi-active friction dampers developed in (i) and (ii), and to verify the theoretical results using a 1/4 scaled 5-story building model on the shaking table at the City College of New York, and (iv) to demonstrate the application of the proposed semi-active friction dampers on a full-scale 5-story frame building at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan. It is mentioned that the budget for the proposed research doesn't include the cost to manufacture the proposed semi-active electromagnetic shape-memory alloy friction damper. The proposed damper device for the 1/4 scaled and full-scale testing will be manufactured using small research grants from the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) and the start-up funds of the PI. The semi-active electromagnetic shape-memory alloy friction damper to be developed is inherently nonlinear. Effective and practical control strategies will be investigated and developed, in particular with respect to the demand of near-field earthquakes. The device is applicable not only to the new constructions but also to the retrofit of deteriorated structures. The results of this research project are expected to make a significant advancement for the state-of-the-technology in auto-adaptive media based protective systems for civil infrastructures. The benefit derived from this research project in urban earthquake disaster mitigation is not limited to US and Japan, but also many countries in the world.