A first series of results of an experimental pseudodynamic test campaign developed at the ELSA Laboratory of the Joint Research Centre – Ispra on a large-scale steel and a full-scale rein¬forced concrete framed structures, seismically ret¬rofitted by a system of steel braces incorporating silicone fluid viscous dampers, is presented herein. This experimental activity is part of the re¬search Project “DISPASS” (Dissipation and Isola¬tion Passive Systems Study), funded by the Euro¬pean Community within the context of the ECOLEADER Consortium. The accelerated con¬tinu¬ous test configuration currently implemented at the ELSA Laboratory, and a properly conceived on-line force-correction strategy allowed compen¬sating the strain-rate effects that tend to alter the response of silicone devices over an enlarged loading-time scale, such as the one inherent to the pseudodynamic testing procedure. A comparative evaluation of the results of a selected set of tests carried out before and after retrofit is reported, which for the first time provides an experimental large-scale verification of the seismic protection capacities of the considered rehabilitation tech¬nology.
