• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.855-864
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• 2013

The dynamic characteristics of natural rubber bearings, which are used as isolator, are dependent on the main rubber's dynamic behaviors and nonlinear properties. Rubber materials tend to undergo an aging process under the influence of mechanical or environmental factors, so they inevitably end up facing damage. A main cause of aging like this is known to be oxidization, which occurs through the heat of reaction at high temperatures. Accordingly, in this study an accelerated thermal aging test was carried out in order to compare the characteristic values of the bearings before and after thermal aging occurs. As a result of this experiment, it was found that a thermal aging phenomenon could have some effects on shear stiffness, energy absorption, and equivalent damping coefficients of the bearings. Furthermore, a deterioration in the dynamic properties of the natural rubber bearings caused by the thermal aging was applied to an actual bridge and then the effects of such thermal aging on the seismic performance of the bridge were also compared and analyzed based on numerical analysis. As a result of this analysis, it was found that the changes in the basic properties of the natural rubber bearings caused by the thermal aging bring only a minor effect on the seismic performance of bridges.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.601-611
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• 2016

The research, development and use of seismic isolation systems have been increasing with the gradual development of structure safety assurance methods for earthquakes. The High Damping Rubber Bearing (HDRB), one type of seismic isolation system, is a Laminated Rubber Bearing using special High Damping Rubber. However, as its damping function is slightly lower than that of the Lead Rubber Bearing, a similar seismic isolation system, its utilization has not been high. However, the HDRB has a superior damping force to the Natural Rubber Bearing, which has similar materials and shapes, and the existing Lead Rubber Bearing has a maleficence problem in that it contains lead. Thus, studies on HDRBs that do not use lead have increased. In this study, a test targeting the HDRB was done to examine its various dependence properties, such as its compressive stress, frequency and repeated loading. To evaluate the HDRB's seismic performance in response to several earthquake waves, the shaking table test was performed and the results analyzed. The test used the downscaled bridge model and the HDRB was divided into seismic and non-seismic isolation. Consequently, when the HDRB was applied, the damping effect was higher in the non-seismic case. However, its responses on weak foundations, such as in Mexico City, represented increased shapes. Thus, its seismic isolator.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.95-102
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• 2021

Elastometic bearings using flexible rubber materials have recently been widely applied for seismic retrofit of bridges. However, due to various factors, the aging of the rubber material progresses, which causes the shear stiffness change of the bearing, which affects the seismic performance of the bridge. For natural rubber, accelerated heat aging test was performed with variables of heating temperatures and exposure time to analyze shear characteristics. As aging progresses (i.e. increase of temperature and exposure time), the maximum shear stress and shear strain decrease. Also, the shear stiffness is greatly increased at the same shear strain. This means that the rubber material is hardened, implying that the seismic performance of the elastomeric bearing becomes poor.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.52-58
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• 2016

Recently, interest in structural stability has increased due to earthquakes. Isolation systems can improve seismic ability without harming the functions and appearance of existing and new constructions, and they have established efficiency in foreign country that have experienced earthquakes. In this study, an isolation system is suggested using a natural rubber bearing (NRB) on a stainless water tank for stability assurance in an earthquake. A shaking table test was carried out to evaluate the seismic capacity of a non-isolated water tank and an isolated tank. Displacement meters in the water tank measured the behavior characteristics of the tanks, which were compared using artificial seismic waves of 0.154 g, 0.231 g, 0.341 g, and 0.348 g with water levels of 0.0 m, 1.5 m, and 2.5 m. At 2.5 m, a decrement effect was generally shown in the isolated water tank, and a bigger displacement occurred in the non-isolated water tank than in the isolated one at water levels of 0.0 m and 1.5 m. It is interpreted that the weight of different water levels affects the decrement effect. If seismic reinforcement is done, the isolated bearing should be designed while considering the fluid storage level.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.3 s.76
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• pp.307-316
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• 2005

This study analyzed the characteristics of four kinds of bridge rubber pads and suggested a method of determining the stiffness and the damping ratio of the pads.The stiffness of rubber pads can be estimated by a direct static test and a dynamic test indirectly.This study used both methods to determine the pad's stiffness.The damping ratio of pads can be obtained using the dynamic test and the damping ratio of polyurethane rubber pads was estimated to aproximate that of natural and chloroprene rubber pads.The polyurethane rubber pads are harder than natural and chloroprene rubber pads and thus carry larger load bearing capacity.In addition, they showed higher stiffness with the same shape factor than the others and thus are more available for bridge bearings.Although natural and chloroprene rubber pads are elongated to large deformation in the horizontal direction due to vertical loads, polyurethane rubber pads almost do not generate horizontal deformation due to vertical loads regardless of the thickness and hardness of the pads.Therefore, they do not need reinforced plate to restrict horizontal deformation.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.415-422
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• 2001

In this paper, the experimental study was carried out in order to compare the mechanical characteristics of multi-layer elastomeric isolation hearings where the reinforceing elements steel plates case and fiber-reinforcement case. Fiber-reinforced isolater which has the same dimension as the steel reinforced isolator had shown better efficiency in effective damping than NRB. The compression test has shown the corresponding results with the theoretical vertical stiffness in the case of flexible reinforcement. The fiber-reinforced isolator will be significantly lighter and could lead to a much less labor intensive manufacturing process.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.103-110
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• 2021

Elastomeric bearings composed of flexible rubber materials and steel reinforcement plates are widely used for seismic retrofit of bridges due to their excellent vertical stiffness and flexible lateral stiffness. Especially, it has the advantages of simple construction and low cost. Chloroprene rubber, a type of rubber material, has greater resistance to aging than natural rubber, but its performance is also degraded due to various deterioration factors. Although these aging characteristics are not reflected in the seismic design standards and seismic performance evaluation guidelines, it is reasonable to reflect this when related studies are accumulated. For chloroprene rubber, accelerated heat aging test was performed with variables of heating temperatures and exposure time to analyze shear characteristics. As aging progresses the maximum shear stress and shear strain decrease. Also, the shear stiffness is greatly increased at the same shear strain.