SAP 2000 / ETABS Modeling

Total Mass and Weight

The mass and weight input are estimated values for the dampers and the steel braces that are
used to attach them to the structure. Since these items will add a very small amount of weight to
the overall structure, they will have a small impact on the performance of the building. Attached
are drawings of typical dampers and a drawing showing how our dampers are installed in
diagonal bracing elements. You can select the damper weight from the drawing of the damper
size that works for your project. You will also have to calculate the weight of the extender based
on the size of tube that you select and the length of the entire damper/brace assembly.
Rotational Inertia
These are intended to define the elements resistance to flexural and torsional deformations.
Since viscous dampers generally only experience axial loading and deformation and are not
intended to resist flexure and torsion, the rotational inertias are set to zero.
Directional Properties
Viscous dampers are axial elements and generally only experience axial loading and
deformations. Consequently, the model of viscous dampers only requires property definitions in
the U1 direction, where U1 is the local axial direction of an element.
Linear Properties
Because viscous dampers are velocity dependent and do not resist static loads, the linear
properties are set to zero.
Nonlinear Properties
The stiffness is expressed as K = AE/L for the extender brace/damper. When doing this, it is
important to assure a substantial area, "A" of the extender brace to assure that you will fully
activate the damper by minimizing elastic deflections of the brace and maximizing deflections
inside the damper. At the same time, this should also assure that there is enough moment of
inertia "I" and area "A" to have significant resistance against buckling in the compression direction.
The following equation illustrates the relationship of the damping coefficient and exponent to the
stroking velocity of the damper:
F=CV

where C is the damping constant (damping coefficient) and is the velocity exponent.
Taylor Devices makes dampers with in the range of 0.3 to 1.0. We can make just about any
damping constant that is desired. For your model, you may want to start with damping set at 50
and an exponent of 0.4. You can tweak (modify) these values to improve the performance if
analysis time permits.

FLUID VISCOUS DAMPERS

& LOCK-UP DEVICES

CLEVIS
THICKNESS

CYLINDER DIA.

SPHERICAL BEARING
BORE

FULL
RADIUS
"A"
CLEVIS
WIDTH

"B"
"C"

"D"

"C"

CLEVIS DEPTH

"B"
"A"

PLATE
THICKNESS

MID-STROKE LENGTH
FORCE

SPHERICAL
CLEVIS
MID-STROKE STROKE
BEARING BORE
THICKNESS
LENGTH (mm)
(mm)
DIA. (mm)
(mm)

CLEVIS
WIDTH
(mm)

CLEVIS
DEPTH
(mm)

CYLINDER
DIA. (mm)

WEIGHT
(Kg)

250 kN

38.10

787

75

41

100 MAX.

83

114 MAX.

44

500 kN

50.80

997

100

54

127 MAX.

102

150 MAX.

98

750 kN

57.15

1016

100

57

155 MAX.

129

184 MAX.

181

1000 kN

69.85

1048

100

70

191 MAX.

150

210 MAX.

254

1500 kN

76.20

1105

100

76

205 MAX.

162

241 MAX.

306

2000 kN

88.90

1346

125

89

230 MAX.

191

292 MAX.

450

3000 kN

101.60

1441

125

114

290 MAX.

203

350 MAX.

800

4000 kN

127.00

1626

125

140

325 MAX.

273

425 MAX.

1088

6500 kN

8000 kN

FORCE

"A"
(mm)

"B"
(mm)

"C"
(mm)

"D"
(mm)

PLATE
THICKNESS
(mm)

250 kN

1783

127.25

20.6.25

38.76

500 kN

2823

203.25

31.8.25

38.76

750 kN

3433

254.25

127.25

28.7.25

61.76

1000 kN

4193

318.25

159.25

31.8.25

761.5

1500 kN

4323

330.25

165.25

34.9.25

761.5

2000 kN

4573

343.25

171.5.25

38.1.25

1021.5

3000 kN

5083

406.25

203.25

41.4.25

1021.5

4000 kN

6500 kN

8000 kN

TAYLOR DEVICES INC.

90 TAYLOR DRIVE
N. TONAWANDA, NEW YORK, 14120
WWW.TAYLORDEVICES.COM,
PHONE 716-694-0800 OR FAX 716-695-6015

NOTE:
VARIOUS STROKES ARE AVAILABLE, FROM 50 TO 900
mm. FORCE CAPACITY MAY BE REDUCED FOR
STROKE LONGER THAN STROKE LISTED IN TABLE. ANY
STROKE CHANGE FROM THE STANDARD STROKE
VERSION DEPICTED CHANGES MID-STROKE LENGTH
BY FIVE MILLIMETERS PER 1 MILLIMETER OF STROKE.
EXAMPLE: 1000 kN 100 mm STROKE, MID-STROKE
LENGTH IS 1048 mm
1000 kN 150 mm STROKE,
150-100 = 50 TIMES FIVE = 250
1048+250 = 1298 mm MID-STROKE LENGTH
BELLOWS MAY BE REPLACED WITH A STEEL SLEEVE
AS DESIRED STROKE LENGTHS INCREASE. CONSULT
TAYLOR DEVICES FOR STROKE OVER 300 mm
AND/OR FOR FORCE CAPACITIES FOR STROKE
LONGER THAN LISTED IN TABLE.
* DENOTES 4-BOLT MOUNTING PATTERN
DENOTES CUSTOM PATTERN. CONSULT FACTORY.