Abstract: Based on the assessment of various liquid dampers, a theoretical analysis and numerical comparison on the dampers is presented in the paper. Each liquid damper is characterized by its distinct relationship between output force and movement velocity. The analysis is performed based on structural damage for rare earthquakes and maximum interlayer shear force for frequent earthquakes. The results indicate that liquid dampers reduce structural seismic response greatly during earthquake, and a dampers control effect is strongly dependent upon the relationship between the output force of damper and the exponent of speed. The smaller the exponent, the better the dissipation effect of energy. In addition, dampers with smaller speed exponent adapt to the change of interlayer relative motion velocity and are more advantageous for actual control design.