During the presence of the National Technical University of Athens at the 86th Thessaloniki International Exhibition, the Laboratory of Statics and Earthquake Research of the School of Civil Engineering of NTUA in collaboration with the Laboratory of Dynamics and Acoustics of the School of Mechanical Engineering of NTUA presented a prototype seismic protection and damping system, the “KDamper” damper. The KDamper damper with integrated negative stiffness elements is a new innovative vibration isolation concept based mainly on the optimal combination of suitable mass and stiffness elements, one of which has a negative stiffness (Negative Stiffness). Compared to traditional Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD), the KDamper can achieve better isolation and damping characteristics without the need for additional masses. The KDamper replaces the necessary high inertia forces of the added mass with the force from the negative stiffness element. The research team, presented for the first time the pioneering experimental device to domestic and international manufacturing institutions as well as industry representatives from the private and public sectors, who showed strong interest in cooperation and development of this technological innovation. In addition, the team had the pleasure of presenting the research achievements to the general public as well as to groups of pupils and students, highlighting the potential and extroversion of the Foundation. The research for the development of the “KDamper” layout is funded by the European Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie research programme (Grant Agreement No. INSPIRE-813424, “INSPIRE-Innovative Ground Interface Concepts for Structure Protection”).
The research team consists of Professors Sapountzakis Evaggelos and Antoniadis Ioannis as well as Maurice Calderon, Antonis Mandakas, Konstantinos Kapasakalis, Kyriakos Chondrogiannis and George Florakis.