Study on improving the reproducibility of analysis considering the damping characteristics of rope vibration obtained from the free vibration test of elevator rope

Elevators are essential for means of the vertical transportation. Recently, the high-rise building increases by the development of the building technology. The elevator rope, which is installed in the high-rise building, is longer than the usual ropes. The natural period of elevator rope is close to that of the high-rise building. Accordingly, the risk of resonance increases. When the high-rise buildings receive an external force such as the strong wind and the earthquake, the elevator rope may sway intensely. As a result, the rope, which hang the elevator inside the building, may be hooked to the equipment in the host-way. As an actual example, 2125 cases of elevator rope catching damage were reported in the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake. Accordingly, the confirmation of the rope behavior during vibration is essential for the seismic design. The time history response analysis, which applies the difference method, is often carried out for ascertainment of the rope behavior. The verification of the validity of the analysis method is important issues. Accordingly, in this study, the vibration test using an elevator test tower was carried out. In addition, the time history response analysis was carried out. Furthermore, the results of the response analysis were compared with the test results. In this paper, the vibration characteristic at the elevator ropes is investigated. The result of the time history response analysis with variable damping ratio is reported.