A novel self‐centering (SC) rotational wedge–shaped friction damper (SRWFD), which can be used as the high‐performance connector for the joints of beam–column, column–foundation, and coupling beam–shear wall, was proposed and investigated in this study. The friction–self‐regulating function ensures a positive correlation between the axial compressive stress of the annular friction plates and the overall rotational angle of the damper. This design not only maintains excellent energy‐dissipation (ED) capability but also obviously reduces the additional restoring moment required during the unloading process, which is conducive to improving the SC capacity of the damper and reducing the cost. The structure and working principle of the SRWFD were first illustrated, followed by systematically experimental and numerical investigations to verify the innovative functional design and to reveal the influence of the material and pretightening force (PF) of superelastic SMA bolts, the friction coefficient between friction plates and connecting plates, the friction coefficient between wedge‐shaped protrusions and grooves, the effective diameter of SMA bolts, and the height of wedge‐shaped protrusions on the cyclic rotational behavior of the SRWFD. Results showed that the damper exhibited a symmetric flag‐shaped hysteresis characterized by satisfactory SC capacity and ED capability. Furthermore, when the protrusion slope is relatively small, the SC capacity of the SRWFD exhibits a small variation with increasing slope. However, once the protrusion slope exceeds a critical threshold, the overall rotational angle recovery ratio of the SRWFD rapidly increases from approximately 7.3% to about 97.2%. This phenomenon validates the innovative functional design of the novel SRWFD, which leverages the combined structure of annular hard friction plates, wedge‐shaped protrusions, and superelastic SMA bolts to achieve the friction–self‐regulating function. As a result, the restoring moment required to unload the device to a zero rotational angle is significantly reduced, and only a small critical restoring moment is needed to ensure excellent SC performance.
Shi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.