• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.167-190
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• 2011

In order to upgrade the seismic resistibility of structures and enhance the functionality of an isolator, a new base isolator called the multiple trench friction pendulum system (MTFPS) is proposed in this study. The proposed MTFPS isolator is composed of a trench concave surface and several intermediate sliding plates in two orthogonal directions. Mathematical formulations have been derived to examine the characteristics of the proposed MTFPS isolator possessing numerous intermediate sliding plates. By means of mathematical formulations which have been validated by experimental results of bidirectional ground shaking, it can be inferred that the natural period and damping effect of the MTFPS isolator with several intermediate sliding plates can be altered continually and controllably during earthquakes. Furthermore, results obtained from the component and shaking table tests demonstrate that the proposed isolator provides good protection to structures for prevention of damage from strong earthquakes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.61-84
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• 2010

Presented in this paper is the behaviour of asymmetric building isolated by the double variable frequency pendulum isolator (DVFPI). The DVFPI is an adoption of single variable frequency pendulum isolator (VFPI). The geometry and coefficient of friction of top and bottom sliding surfaces can be unequal. The governing equations of motion of the building-isolation system are derived and solved in incremental form. The analysis duly considers the interaction of frictional forces in the two principal directions developed at each sliding surface of the DVFPI. In order to investigate the behaviour of the base isolation using the DVFPI, the coupled lateral-torsional response is obtained under different parametric variations for a set of six far-fault earthquake ground motions and criterion to optimize its performance is proposed. Further, influences of the initial time period, coefficient of friction and frequency variation factors at the two sliding surfaces are investigated. The numerical results of the extensive parametric study help in understanding the torsional behaviour of the structure isolated with the double sliding surfaces as in the DVFPI. It is found that the performance of the DVFPI can be optimized by designing the top sliding surface initially softer and smoother relative to the bottom one.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.299-310
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• 1999

One problem with base isolators of the sliding type is that their dynamic responses are nonlinear, which cannot be solved in an easy manner, as distinction must be made between the sliding and non-sliding phases. The lack of a simple method for analyzing structures installed with base isolators is one of the obstacles encountered in application of these devices. As an initial effort toward simplification of the analysis procedure for base-isolated structures, an approach will be proposed in this paper for computing the equivalent damping for the resilient-friction base isolators (R-FBI), based on the condition that the sum of the least squares of errors of the linearized response with reference to the original nonlinear one is a minimum. With the aid of equivalent damping, the original nonlinear system can be replaced by a linear one, which can then be solved by methods readily available. In this paper, equivalent damping curves are established for all ranges of the parameters that characterize the R-FBI for some design spectra.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2017

Variable Curvature Friction Pendulum (VCFP) bearing is one of the alternatives to control excessive induced responses of isolated structures subjected to near-fault ground motions. The curvature of sliding surface in this isolator is varying with displacement and its function is non-spherical. Selecting the most appropriate function for the sliding surface depends on the design objectives and ground motion characteristics. To date, few polynomial functions have been experimentally tested for VCFP however it needs comprehensive parametric study to find out which one provides the most effective behavior. Herein, seismic performance of the isolated structure mounted on VCFP is investigated with two different polynomial functions of the sliding surface (Order 4 and 6). By variation of the constants in these functions through changing design parameters, 120 cases of isolators are evaluated and the most proper function is explored to minimize floor acceleration and/or isolator displacement under different hazard levels. Beside representing the desire sliding surface with adaptive behavior, it was shown that the polynomial function with order 6 has least possible floor acceleration under seven near-field ground motions in different levels.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.943-966
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• 2016

Recently, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) material and its devices have been developed and attracted a good deal of attention for their potentials in vibration control. Among them, a highly adaptive base isolator based on MRE was designed, fabricated and tested for real-time adaptive control of base isolated structures against a suite of earthquakes. To perfectly take advantage of this new device, an accurate and robust model should be built to characterize its nonlinearity and hysteresis for its application in structural control. This paper first proposes a novel hysteresis model, in which a nonlinear hyperbolic sine function spring is used to portray the strain stiffening phenomenon and a Voigt component is incorporated in parallel to describe the solid-material behaviours. Then the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FFOA) is employed for model parameter identification using testing data of shear force, displacement and velocity obtained from different loading conditions. The relationships between model parameters and applied current are also explored to obtain a current-dependent generalized model for the control application. Based on the proposed model of MRE base isolator, a second-order sliding mode controller is designed and applied to the device to provide a real-time feedback control of smart structures. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated in simulation through utilizing a three-storey benchmark building model under four benchmark earthquake excitations. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed current-dependent model and corresponding controller for semi-active control of MRE base isolator incorporated smart structures.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.701-723
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• 2015

Friction isolators are one of the most important types of bearings used to mitigate damages of earthquakes. The adaptive behavior of these isolators allows them to achieve multiple levels of performances and predictable seismic behavior during different earthquake hazard levels. There are three main types of friction isolators. The first generation with one sliding surface is known as Friction Pendulum System (FPS) isolators. The double concave friction pendulum (DCFP) with two sliding surfaces is an advanced form of FPS, and the third one, with fully adaptive behavior, is named as triple concave friction pendulum (TCFP). The current study has been conducted to investigate and compare seismic responses of these three types of isolators. The structure is idealized as a two-dimensional single degree of freedom (SDOF) resting on isolators. The coupled differential equations of motion are derived and solved using state space formulation. Seismic responses of isolated structures using each one of these isolators are investigated under seven near fault earthquake motions. The peak values of bearing displacement and base shear are studied employing the variation of essential parameters such as superstructure period, effective isolation period and effective damping of isolator. The results demonstrate a more efficient seismic behavior of TCFP isolator comparing to the other types of isolators. This efficiency depends on the selected effective isolation period as well as effective isolation damping. The investigation shows that increasing the effective isolation period or decreasing the effective isolation damping improves the seismic behavior of TCFP compared to the other isolators. The maximum difference in seismic responses, the base shear and the bearing displacement, for the TCFP isolator are calculated 26.8 and 13.4 percent less than the DCFP and FPS in effective isolation damping equal to10%, respectively.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.709-724
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• 2016

This study investigates the optimum design parameters of a superelastic friction base isolator (S-FBI) system through a multi-objective genetic algorithm to improve the performance of isolated buildings against near-fault earthquakes. The S-FBI system consists of a flat steel-PTFE sliding bearing and superelastic NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) cables. Sliding bearing limits the transfer of shear across the isolation interface and provides damping from sliding friction. SMA cables provide restoring force capability to the isolation system together with additional damping characteristics. A three-story building is modeled with S-FBI isolation system. Multiple-objective numerical optimization that simultaneously minimizes isolation-level displacements and superstructure response is carried out with a genetic algorithm in order to optimize S-FBI system. Nonlinear time history analyses of the building with optimal S-FBI system are performed. A set of 20 near-fault ground motion records are used in numerical simulations. Results show that S-FBI system successfully control response of the buildings against near-fault earthquakes without sacrificing in isolation efficacy and producing large isolation-level deformations.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.179-191
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• 2002

This paper presents a systematic approach to the seismic nonlinear analysis and retrofit strategies for existing bridges with isolation system using retrofit slate function newly proposed in this study. A seismic retrofit scheme using sliding base isolation system was presented to reduce the seismic hazard for bridge structures. In this study, two types of isolation systems such as lead bearings and sliding isolators were used. The behavior of sliding isolators was modeled by a triaxial interaction model. And three types of earthquakes such as El Centro, San Fernando, and the artificial were used as earthquake ground excitations. Seismic response analyses of the bridge before and after retrofit were effectively carried out by using a three-dimensional nonlinear seismic analysis program, IDARC-Bridge. Also, this paper proposes a retrofit state function for easily representing the efficiency of a retrofit scheme.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2010

Recently, earthquake proof technology has been widely applied to both new and existing structures and bridges. The analysis of bridge systems equipped with structural control devices, which possess large degrees of freedom and nonlinear characteristics, is a result in time-consuming task. Therefore, a piecewise exact solution is proposed in this study to simplify the seismic mitigation analysis process for bridge systems equipped with sliding-type isolators. In this study, the simplified system having two degrees of freedom, to reasonably represent the large number of degrees of freedom of a bridge, and is modeled to obtain a piecewise exact solution for system responses during earthquakes. Simultaneously, we used the nonlinear finite element computer program to analyze the bridge responses and verify the accuracy of the proposed piecewise exact solution for bridge systems equipped with sliding-type isolators. The conclusions derived by comparing the results obtained from the piecewise exact solution and nonlinear finite element analysis reveal that the proposed solution not only simplifies the calculation process but also provides highly accurate seismic responses of isolated bridges under earthquakes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.517-526
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• 2022

Previous studies have shown that pile-soil interactions have significant influences on the isolation efficiency of an isolated structure. However, most of the existing tests were carried out using a 1-g shaking table, which cannot reproduce the soil stresses resulting in distortion of the simulated pile-soil interactions. In this study, a centrifuge shaking table modelling of the seismic responses of a friction pendulum bearing isolated structure with a pile foundation under earthquakes were conducted. The pile foundation structure was designed and constructed with a scale factor of 1:100. Two layers of the foundation soil, i.e., the bottom layer was made of plaster and the upper layer was normal soil, were carefully prepared to meet the similitude requirement. Seismic responses, including strains, displacement, acceleration, and soil pressure were collected. The settlement of the soil, sliding of the isolator, dynamic amplification factor and bending moment of the piles were analysed to reveal the influence of the soil structure interaction on the seismic performance of the structure. It is found that the soil rotates significantly under earthquake motions and the peak rotation is about 0.021 degree under 24.0 g motions. The isolator cannot return to the initial position after the tests because of the unrecoverable deformation of the soil and the friction between the curved surface of the slider and the concave plate.