• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.761-783
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• 2006

The enlargement of interest in base isolators as an earthquake-proof design strategy has dramatically accelerated experimental studies of elastomeric bearings worldwide. In this paper, a new base isolator concept that is a hybrid system of rubber bearings is proposed. Uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial shaking table tests are also performed to study the seismic behavior of a 0.4-scale three-story isolated steel structure in the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan. Experimental results demonstrate that structures with a hybrid system of rubber bearings composed of stirruped rubber bearings and laminated rubber bearings can actually decrease the seismic responses of the superstructure. It has been proved through the shaking table tests that the proposed hybrid system of rubber bearings is a very promising tool to enhance the seismic resistance of structures. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the proposed analytical model in this paper can predict the mechanical behavior of the hybrid system of rubber bearings and seismic responses of the base-isolated structures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.559-570
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• 2014

In this study, compression and shear characteristics of laminated rubber bearings and lead rubber bearings with various parameters are investigated by using material and geometric nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analysis. Rubber coupon tests are performed to make a model of the laminated rubber bearings. In addition, the material constants of the rubber are calculated by the curve fitting process of stress-strain relationship. The finite element analysis and experimental tests of the laminate rubber bearings are used to verify the validity of the rubber material constants. It is seen that the compression behavior of the laminated rubber bearings and lead rubber bearings mainly varies depending on the first shape factors and their shear behavior significantly varies depending on the second shape factors. In addition, the horizontal stiffness and energy dissipation capacity of lead rubber bearing are increased when the diameter of a lead bar is increased.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.259-278
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• 2008

This paper presents a nonlinear finite element procedure accounting for the effects of geometric as well as material nonlinearities for reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings. Reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings and carrying a cyclic load were analyzed by using a special purpose, nonlinear finite element program, RCAHEST. For reinforced concrete, the proposed robust nonlinear material model captures the salient response characteristics of the bridge piers under cyclic loading conditions and addresses with the influence of geometric nonlinearity on post-peak response of the bridge piers by transformations between local and global systems. Seismic isolator element to predict the behaviors of laminated rubber bearings is also developed. The seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings is assessed analytically. The results show good correlation between the experimental findings and numerical predictions, and demonstrate the reliability and robustness of the proposed analytical model. Additionally, the studies and discussions presented in this investigation provide an insight into the key behavioral aspects of reinforced concrete bridge piers supported by laminated rubber bearings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.351-368
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to propose a simple analysis method of axial deformation of base-isolation rubber bearings in a building subjected to earthquake loading and present its applicability to the analysis of the bound of the aspect ratio of base-isolated buildings. The base shear coefficient is introduced as a key parameter for the bound analysis. The bound of the aspect ratio of base-isolated buildings is analyzed based on the relationship of the following four quantities; (i) ultimate state of the tensile stress of rubber bearings based on a proposed simple recursive analysis for seismic loading, (ii) ultimate state of drift of the base-isolation story for seismic loading, (iii) ultimate state of the axial compressive stress of rubber bearings under dead loads, (iv) prediction of the overturning moment at the base for seismic loading. In particular, a new recursive analysis method of axial deformation of rubber bearings is presented taking into account the nonlinear tensile behavior of rubber bearings and it is shown that the relaxation of the constraint on the ultimate state of the tensile stress of rubber bearings increases the limiting aspect ratio.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2013

Seismic isolation has been considered and utilized in various industries as a way to prevent huge damage on to structures by large earthquakes in various industries. The laminated Laminated rubber bearings is are most frequently used in seismic isolation systems. The structural Structural safety could not be assured unless the performance of the rubber bearing is not guaranteed for the life time of the structure under the consideration that the bearing is a critical structural member to sustain vertical loads in the seismically isolated structure. However, there are few studies on the deterioration problems of rubber bearings during their service life. The long term performance of the rubber bearings was not considered in past designs of seismically isolated structures. This study evaluates the long term performance and creep characteristics of laminated natural rubber bearings that are used in seismically isolated buildings. For the this study, a set of accelerated thermal aging tests and creep tests are were performed on real specimens. The experimental results show that the natural rubber bearings would have a stable change rate of change for durability under severe environmental conditions for a long time.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5A
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• pp.417-424
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• 2010

The dynamic properties of laminated rubber bearings used as isolators in structures could be significantly deteriorated because of the change of microstructure in rubber caused by thermal aging. As a result, a catastrophic failure of bridges and buildings unexpectedly occurs when they are subjected to earthquake attack. Here, the dynamic properties of laminated rubber bearings before and after different of compression-shear loading and repeated cycles loadings, ultimated failure test with thermal aging were first measured and compared to each other. The experimental results, the effects of thermal aging on the shear stiffness, energy absorption, and equivalent damping coefficient of laminated rubber bearings are investigated. It is found that the deterioration of dynamic properties of laminated rubber bearings caused by thermal aging is significant and should be taken into account in designing rubber bearings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.361-384
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• 2011

Earlier studies on hollow-circular rubber bearings, all of which are conducted for steel-reinforced bearings, indicate that the hole presence not only decreases the compression modulus of the bearing but also increases the maximum shear strain developing in the bearing due to compression, both of which are basic design parameters also for fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. This paper presents analytical solutions to the compression problem of hollow-circular fiber-reinforced rubber bearings. The problem is handled using the most-recent formulation of the "pressure method". The analytical solutions are, then, used to investigate the effects of reinforcement flexibility and hole presence on bearing's compression modulus and maximum shear strain in the bearing in view of four key parameters: (i) reinforcement extensibility, (ii) hole size, (iii) bearing's shape factor and (iv) rubber compressibility. It is shown that the compression stiffness of a hollow-circular fiber-reinforced bearing may decrease considerably as reinforcement flexibility and/or hole size increases particularly if the shape factor of the bearing is high and rubber compressibility is not negligible. Numerical studies also show that the existence of even a very small hole can increase the maximum shear strain in the bearing significantly, which has to be considered in the design of such annular bearings.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.215-230
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• 2010

The main objectives of this work were to investigate the effects of the nonlinear behavior of the isolation pads on the seismic response of bridges with rubber bearings, and to identify when base isolation improved their seismic performance. To achieve these objectives a parametric study was conducted designing a set of bridges for three different soil types and varying the number of spans, span lengths, and pier heights. The seismic responses (accelerations, displacements and pier seismic forces) were evaluated for three different structural models subjected to three earthquakes with different dynamic characteristics. The first represented bridges without base isolation; the second corresponded to the same bridges including now rubber bearings as an isolation system, with linear elastic behavior that shifted the natural period of the bridge by a factor of 2 to 4. In the third model the seismic response of bridges supported on lead-Rubber bearings was studied accounting for the nonlinear behavior of the lead. The results show clearly the importance of the nonlinear behavior on the seismic performance of the bridges.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.809-822
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• 2013

Base isolation is widely used in seismic resisting buildings due to its low construction cost, high reliability, mature theory and convenient usage. However, it is difficult to design the isolation layer in high-rise buildings using the available bearings because high-rise buildings are characterized with long period, low horizontal stiffness, and complex re-distribution of the internal forces under earthquake loads etc. In this paper, a simple and innovative isolation bearing, named Teflon-based lead rubber isolation bearing, is developed to address the mentioned problems. The Teflon-based lead rubber isolation bearing consists of friction material and lead rubber isolation bearing. Hence, it integrates advantages of friction bearings and lead rubber isolation bearings so that improves the stability of base isolation system. An experimental study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of this new bearing. The effects of vertical loading, displacement amplitude and loading frequency on the force-displacement relationship and energy dissipation capacity of the Teflon-based lead rubber isolation bearing were studied. An analytical model was also proposed to predict the force-displacement relationship of the new bearing. Comparison of analytical and experimental results showed that the analytical model can accurately predict the force-displacement relationship and elastic shear deflection of the Teflon-based lead rubber isolation bearings.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 2014

To analyze the tension performance of laminated rubber bearings under tensile loading, a theoretical tension model for analyzing the rubber bearings is proposed based on the theory of elasticity. Applying the boundary restraint condition and the assumption of incompressibility of the rubber (Poisson's ratio of the rubber material is about 0.5 according the existing research results), the stress and deformation expressions for the tensile rubber layer are derived. Based on the derived expressions, the stress distribution and deformation pattern especially for the deformation shapers of the free edges of the rubber layer are analyzed and validated with the numerical results, and the theory of cracking energy is applied to analyze the distributions of prediction cracking energy density and gradient direction. The prediction of crack initiation and crack propagation direction of the rubber layers is investigated. The analysis results show that the stress and deformation expressions can be used to simulate the stress distribution and deformation pattern of the rubber layer for laminated rubber bearings in the elastic range, and the crack energy method of predicting failure mechanism are feasible according to the experimental phenomenon.