Patent ID: 8881491

Claim:
A building structure including a plurality of vertical elements extending vertically from a ground surface with at least a first of said vertical elements connected to a second of said vertical elements by a coupling member, said coupling member comprising: a damping element for damping vibrations in said building structure resulting from relative movement between said first and second vertical elements due to lateral loads applied to the building structure, whereby said damping element undergoes deformation due to said relative movement; said damping element comprising first and second sets of two or more plates each, wherein the plates in said first set are interdigitated with the plates in said second, and spaced from each other in a direction substantially parallel to the ground surface, and a damping material disposed between each plate in said sets of plates; at least one of a first and second fuse member connected to at least one of first and second ends of said damping element respectively; said fuse member selected from a material, and otherwise sized and dimensioned to exhibit semi-rigid behavior when said damping element undergoes deformation due to loads below a predetermined load limit and to undergo deformation when loads reach said predetermined load limit, such that said damping element is prevented from deforming due to loads above said predetermined load limit; first and second connecting means for rigidly connecting said first and second fuse members to said first and second vertical elements, respectively.