Mechanical behavior and energy dissipation characteristics of butterfly-shaped steel plate dampers
Yu Yang,Lueqin Xu,Ruihua Pan,Dong Xie,Guangyang Yan
Abstract
Butterfly-shaped steel plate dampers (BSPDs) have been proposed as innovative replaceable structural
fuses in building frames and bridge piers to concentrate damage and dissipate seismic energy, thereby protecting main
gravity-load-bearing members. However, their post-buckling energy dissipation capacity—a massive potential seismic
energy reserve—is often neglected in current designs. To systematically investigate this behavior, an individual energy
dissipating rib was first simplified as a cantilever beam, and theoretical calculation formulas for key mechanical
parameters at the pre-buckling, post-buckling, and failure stages were derived using the principle of virtual work.
Subsequently, 14 full-scale BSPD specimens were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading to evaluate the effects of key
geometric parameters (end width b, middle width a, rib height H, number of ribs n, plate thickness t, and number of
plates N) on the damper’s mechanical performance. The experimental results agreed well with the theoretical analyses,
showing a minimum error of 3.04%. To compensate for the limited number of physical tests, an extended parametric
analysis comprising 82 finite element models was conducted using ABAQUS to comprehensively investigate the
parametric effects on post-buckling energy dissipation. The results demonstrate that BSPDs exhibit remarkable energy
dissipation capacity. The hysteretic curves show a plump “spindle” shape before buckling and transition to a pinched
“bow” shape after buckling. Notably, the post-buckling energy dissipation accounts for a significant proportion of the
total energy dissipation, reaching up to 88% at maximum, highlighting its crucial, yet previously underestimated,
contribution to the overall seismic resilience of structures.
