Optimization of location and forces of friction dampers

Abstract Damper optimization is a new area which has been investigated in recent years. There are various methods employed in optimization, among which are highlighted the classic and the most recent that are functioning with reliability, efficiency and speed for optimum results. This paper proposes a method for simultaneous optimization of placement and forces of friction dampers using the Firefly Algorithm, which is a recent meta-heuristic algorithm inspired in the behavior of fireflies. Herein, three different optimization objective are presented: i) minimize the maximum displacement at the top of the structure; ii) minimize the maximum inter-story drift; iii) minimize the maximum acceleration at the top of the structure. The three objective functions were evaluated in two civil structures (a nine-story building and a sixteen-story building) subjected to two real seismic records. The first seismic record is El Centro, which took place in the southeastern California on the boarder of the United States and Mexico in 1940. The second one is the earthquake that occurred in Caucete, province of San Juan, Argentina, in 1977. The results showed that the proposed method was able to optimize the friction dampers, reducing considerably the response of the structures.