Viscous dampers operate based on velocity; friction and metallic yielding devices are displacement-dependent. The right choice starts with understanding hysteretic behavior.
01 Hysteretic behavior
Viscous devices produce ellipse-like loops, while friction devices produce loops close to rectangular; the absorbed energy is proportional to the loop area.
02 Which one when
Viscous devices come to the fore when stiffness increase is not desired; displacement-dependent devices are preferred when added stiffness and a predictable threshold are needed.
