A new assessment in the simultaneous optimization of friction dampers in plane and spatial civil structures

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to improve installation of friction dampers in civil structures subjected to artificial and real earthquakes using a metaheuristic optimization technique. The Firefly Algorithm is used in this work and it is linked with a computational routine based on Finite Differences Method to solve simultaneous optimization of friction dampers problem. The methodology is implemented for two kinds of structures: a 2D steel frame building and a 3D concrete frame building. The scope of this study is to reduce two different objective functions: (i) the maximum displacement at the top of a structure and (ii) maximum interstorey drift. The results showed that the methodology was able to reduce two objective functions and it can be recommended as an efficient tool to project optimal fiction dampers.