The impact, or dynamic pounding, of adjacent buildings has been identified as a major cause of damage during severe earthquakes. Because of the serious potential of structural and nonstructural damage by pounding during seismic events, efficient methods and techniques to mitigate this impact are needed. The proposed research is aimed at the development of pounding reduction devices (PRDs) for adjacent buildings located in congested urban centers. Consideration will be given to the systematic treatment of uncertainties in the knowledge of the properties and mechanics of existing buildings subject to pounding and in predicting future earthquake ground motions. These uncertainties will play an important role in optimizing the mechanical properties of the proposed PRD components. This research will investigate the economic feasibility of installing PDRs, developing promising mechanical design concepts, a model application, and analysis methods. In addition the research focuses on the development of hardware specifications for the devices and methods of installation.
