• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.731-736
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• 2017

Friction Pendulum isolators are tools developed in the past few decades. The simplest form of these isolators, are FPS whose main disadvantages are having a constant frequency independent of the frequency of the structure. For this reason, researchers have invented VFPI isolator whose frequency is variable and depends on displacement. Another friction pendulum isolator is DCFP isolator which is a combination of two FPS isolators. In this article, first by changing the geometry of DCFP isolator plates from spherical to elliptical, the motion and frequency equations of DVFPI isolators are defined, and then the seismic behavior of DVFPI isolators are analyzed in various geometric and plate friction settings using motion equations, and confirmed using ABAQUS software. The most important results of this study are that the hysteresis behavior of DVFPI isolators are severely nonlinear, its curve follows two distinct curvatures, and that the restoring force is faced with softening mechanism that limits the seismic force transmitted to the structure, whereas the restoring force in DCFP isolators increases linearly with increasing displacement.

• 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.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.39-48
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• 1997

New form of base isolators made of steel spring coated with both natural and artficial rubber were manufactured and tested for material properties. Shaking table experiments were performed using a model structure attached with the bearings. The model structure used in the test is a 1/4 scaled steel structure, and earthquake records were used to check the lateral and vertical stability and effectiveness of the isolators. According to the results all three types of isolators turned out to be effective in reducing the acceleration induced by the earthquake vibration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.246-255
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• 1993

The paper presents the experimental studies on the effectiveness of some vibration isolators developed for reducing transmission of vibration from the powered knapsack sprayer to the back and shoulders of the operator. A test rig was used to conduct detailed experimental studies on the powered knapsack sprayer mounted on it and fitted with different vibration isolators. Structural features of vibration isolators have been presented and their effectiveness of isolating transmission of vibration, from the engine-blower of the sprayer to its main frame and the operator, has been presented and discussed. Vibration measurements and analyses made by using B & K equipment have proved that the vibration isolators are quite effective in reducing the vibration transmission. The operators felt much less discomfort when they used the sprayer fitted with the isolators developed for the purposes, as compared to the existing arrangement.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.479-500
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• 2013

This paper presents the experimental as well as analytical study conducted on layer-bonded scrap tire rubber pad (STRP) isolators to develop low-cost seismic isolators applicable to structures in developing countries. The STRP specimen samples were produced by stacking the STRP layers one on top of another with the application of adhesive. In unbonded application, the STRP bearings were placed between the substructure and superstructure without fastening between the contact surfaces which allows roll-off of the contact supports. The vertical compression and horizontal shear tests were conducted with varying axial loads. These results were used to compute the different mechanical properties of the STRP isolators including vertical stiffness, horizontal effective stiffness, average horizontal stiffness and effective damping ratios. The load-displacement relationships of STRP isolators obtained by experimental and finite element analysis results were found to be in close agreement. The tested STRP samples show energy dissipation capacity considerably greater than the natural rubber bearings. The layer-bonded STRP isolators serve positive incremental force resisting capacity up to the shear strain level of 150%.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.16 no.11 s.116
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• pp.1100-1107
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• 2006

As environmental vibration requirements on precision equipment become more stringent, use of pneumatic isolators has become more popular and their performance is subsequently required to be further improved. Performance of passive pneumatic isolators is related to various design parameters in a complicated manner and, hence, is very limited especially in low frequency range by chamber volume. In this study, transmissibility behavior of the pneumatic isolators depending on frequency and dynamic amplitude are presented. Then, an active control technique, time delay control, which is adequate for a low frequency nonlinear system, is applied. A procedure of applying the time delay control law to a pneumatic isolator is presented and it's effectiveness in the transmissibility performance is shown. Comparison between passive and active pneumatic isolators is made based on simulation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.411-419
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• 1999

A nonlinear model for time-step analysis of bridges subjected to two orthogonal horizontal components of earthquake motions was developed. The focus of the study was on elastomeric isolators with or without lead cores. The hysteretic behavior of the isolators, the columns, abutments, and shear keys was taken into account. The nonlinear analysis showed that, contrary to linear theory prediction, the use of isolators does not necessarily increase the displacement of the superstructure. Furthermore, it was shown that properly designed isolators can reduce the ductility demand in RC bridge columns substantially.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.837-843
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• 2006

As environmental vibration requirements on precision equipment become more stringent, use of pneumatic isolators has become more popular and their performance is subsequently required to be further improved. Performance of passive pneumatic isolators is related to various design parameters in a complicated manner and, hence, is very limited especially in low frequency range by chamber volume. In this study, transmissibility behavior of the pneumatic isolators depending on frequency and dynamic amplitude are presented. Then, an active control technique, time delay control, which is adequate for a low frequency nonlinear system, is applied. A procedure of applying the time delay control law to a pneumatic isolator is presented and it's effectiveness in the transmissibility performance is shown. Comparison between passive and active pneumatic isolators is made based on simulation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.31-47
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• 2017

As a relatively new type of multi-layered rubber-based seismic isolators, fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolators (FREIs) are composed of several thin rubber layers reinforced with flexible fiber sheets. Limited analytical studies in literature have pointed out that "warping" (distortion) of reinforcing sheets has significant influence on buckling behavior of FREIs. However, none of these studies, to the best knowledge of authors, has investigated their warping behavior, thoroughly. This study aims to investigate, in detail, the warping behavior of strip-shaped FREIs by deriving advanced analytical solutions without utilizing the commonly used "pressure", incompressibility, inextensibility and the "linear axial displacement variation through the thickness" assumptions. Studies show that the warping behavior of FREIs mainly depends on the (i) aspect ratio (shape factor) of the interior elastomer layers, (ii) Poisson's ratio of the elastomer and (iii) extensibility of the fiber sheets. The basic assumptions of the "pressure" method as well as the commonly used incompressibility assumption are valid only for isolators with relatively large shape factors, strictly incompressible elastomeric material and nearly inextensible fiber reinforcement.

• 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.