In recent years, seismic damping systems have been employed in numerous steel and concrete framed buildings. Such systems dissipate a significant portion of the seismic input energy, thereby relieving the energy dissipation demand on the structural framing system and thus reducing damage. As part of a NEESR project to develop a performance-based approach to seismic design of multi-story light-framed wood structures, the application of damping systems to such structures has been evaluated via seismic shaking table tests and numerical simulations. This paper focuses on the results from shaking table tests of wood shear walls employing toggle-braced fluid dampers. Within the context of performance-based seismic design, the effect of the fluid dampers on the deformation demand and hysteretic energy dissipation demand is emphasized. The results demonstrate that toggle-braced fluid dampers provide a significant increase in the seismic resistance of the walls, allowing them to achieve high levels of performance when subjected to strong ground motions.
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