Seismic Retrofit Design of a 17-Storey Shear-Wall RC Building with SPD and MPD Dampers

This thesis investigates the seismic performance improvement of a 17-storey reinforced-concrete shear-wall building through the incorporation of fluid viscous dampers (FVDs). Two damper arrangements: stiffness-proportional damping (SPD) and mass-proportional damping (MPD) are designed, calibrated, and evaluated using a structured five-step procedure based on the methodologies of Silvestri and Trombetti. The study employs three numerical models developed in SAP2000: an undamped reference structure, a damped structure equipped with linear viscous devices, and a fully nonlinear configuration using Maxwell-type dampers. Modal analysis, response spectrum analysis, and linear and nonlinear time-history analyses are performed to quantify the reduction in seismic demands. In parallel, two modelling strategies for the structural system (1) a full shell-element model and (2) a beam-column–shear-wall model with explicit representation of façade openings are compared to assess the influence of modelling assumptions on dynamic response. Results demonstrate substantial reductions in base shear, inter-storey drift, and floor displacements for both SPD and MPD systems, with SPD showing marginally higher efficiency. The comparison between modelling strategies confirms that the shell model predicts stiffer behaviour and slightly lower seismic demands, while the beam-column–shear-wall model provides a more realistic representation of stiffness distribution affected by façade openings. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of both damper configuration and modelling strategy in the reliable seismic assessment and retrofit of high-rise shear-wall buildings.