The Sliding Keys on Inclined Deflecting‐cantilevers (SKID) device: Empirical and analytical sensitivity analysis with application in post‐tensioned frames

Abstract

Previously, the authors presented a new theoretical energy dissipating technology termed a Frictional Sliding on a Sprung Slope (FSSS) device. Its purpose was to provide significant energy dissipation to post‐tensioned (PT) frames structures. The FSSS device has a triangular‐shaped hysteretic curve, which has a zero‐force activation threshold. This enables activation for any earthquake magnitude and provides progressively greater energy dissipation with an increase in structural oscillations. In addition, it is designed to allow full self‐centring of the PT framed structure. In this paper, a physical prototype FSSS is designed, constructed and experimentally tested. The prototype replaces the theoretical springs, bearings and the constraints with pairs of cantilever bars. Consequently, it is renamed a Sliding Keys on Inclined Deflecting‐cantilever (SKID) device. Six scaled SKID configurations having different manufacturing parameters were built and tested. Also, five materials were used to investigate the sensitivity to the friction coefficient of the sliding pads. Both cyclic and fatigue tests were conducted to assess SKID performance empirically. A finite element model of SKID was then implemented in OpenSees and benchmarked against the experimental results. More than 700 one‐story one‐bay PT frames with different SKID devices (PT‐SKID frames) were numerically tested to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the structural system affecting the seismic response. Based on the extensive experimental and numerical analyses, design suggestions are provided, and the PT‐SKID self‐centring features are discussed.