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BASE ISOLATION OF
BUILDINGS
By
Haris Alam
Supervisor:
Dr. Muhammad Fahad

Department of Civil Engineering

University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar

SCHEME OF PRESENTATION
Conventional Construction Practice
Introduction
Problem Statement
Aims & Objective
Methodology
Schedule
References

Conventional Construction Practice

Assumes Fixed Base Structures

The Dynamic Characteristics of Fixed Base Structures are determined by

the general characteristics of the structural system.

The Designer can only slightly adjust those Dynamic Characteristics.

As a matter of fact, most common Building Structures have unfavorable

Dynamic Characteristics that result in increased Seismic Response .

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Earthquake Performance of Fixed Base

Structures

Conventional Fixed Base Structures can not be realistically designed to

remain elastic in large seismic events.(more so in regions of high
seismicity)

Common practice is to design them so that they experience damage in

a controlled manner and have large inelastic displacements potential.

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Unconventional Earthquake Protective

Systems
Earthquake Protective Systems

Passive Protective Systems

Tuned Mass Damper

Hybrid Protective Systems

Active Isolation

Tuned Liquid Damper

Semi-Active Isolation

Energy Dissipation

Semi-Active Mass
Damping

Active Protective Systems

Active Mass Damping

Active Bracing

Adaptive Control

Seismic Base
Isolation

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Unconventional Earthquake Protective

Systems
Earthquake Protective Systems

Passive Protective Systems

Tuned Mass Damper

Hybrid Protective Systems

Active Isolation

Tuned Liquid Damper

Semi-Active Isolation

Energy Dissipation

Semi-Active Mass
Damping

Active Protective Systems

Active Mass Damping

Active Bracing

Adaptive Control

Seismic Base
Isolation

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Introduction to Seismic Base Isolation:

Seismic isolation is a simple structural design approach to mitigate or reduce

earthquake damage potential.

Seismic isolation consists essentially of the installation of mechanisms which

decouple the structures (Superstructure) and their contents from potentially
damaging earthquake-induced ground motions.

By decoupling the structure from ground shaking, isolation reduces response

in the structure that would otherwise occur in a conventional, fixed-base
building.

These systems include devices that enhance building performance primarily

by modifying building response characteristics.

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Isolation of Structure from Foundation:

[1] Michael D. Symans (2012)

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How exactly does Base Isolation Work?

Lengthening of the
Structures Period and
increased Damping
that result in a large
scale decrease of the
Seismic Response

Figure : Elastomeric bearing installed in building [5] ] (Farzad Naeim & James M. Kelly 2nd edtn )

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Response Of Base Isolated Building Vs

Fixed Ended
Fixed Base
Significantly Increase
the Period of the
Structure and the
Damping so that the
Response is
Base Isolated
Significantly Reduced.

Period
Figure : Structure Response to Base Isolated & Fixed Ended Structure [6]
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Vasant A. Matsagar, R.S. Jangid, (2004)

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Response of Base Isolated Buildings

versus Fixed Base Response

Reduced
Superstructure
Deformations for
Base Isolated
Structure

Drift on Isolation Interface

Fig. Building Drift of isolated Vs Fixed Based.[8] Erik A. Johnson & Juan C. Ramallo (1998)
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Effect of Soil Conditions on Isolated

Structure Response

Fig. Building Drift of isolated Vs Fixed Based.[1] Michael D. Symans (2012)

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Most Common Types of Isolation Components (Isolators)

Isolation Devices

Elastomeric Isolators

Sliding Isolators

Natural Rubber Bearings

Friction Pendulum System

Low-Damping Rubber
Bearings

Double friction Pendulum System

Lead-Plug Bearings

Triple friction pendulum system

High-Damping Rubber
Bearings

Sliding with Restoring Force

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Most Common Types of Isolation Components (Isolators)

Isolation Devices

Elastomeric Isolators

Sliding Isolators

Natural Rubber Bearings

Friction Pendulum System

Low-Damping Rubber
Bearings

Double friction Pendulum System

Lead-Plug Bearings

Triple friction pendulum system

High-Damping Rubber
Bearings

Sliding with Restoring Force

Michael D. Symans (2012)

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Elastomeric Isolators Bearings

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Natural Rubber Bearings

The bearings are large rubber blocks
without the steel reinforcing plated used
today.
The rubber is relatively un-damped.
Natural rubber bearings were first used
for the earthquake protection of building
in 1969 for the Pestalozzi school in
Skopje, Macedonia.

Natural Rubber Bearing

(Farzad Naeim & James M. Kelly 2nd edtn)

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Low-Damping Natural and Synthetic Rubber Bearings

The elastomers have two thick steel end

plates and several thin steel plates
known as shims.

The steel shims prevent lateral bulging

of the rubber and increase the vertical
stiffness without affecting the horizontal
stiffness.

The only disadvantage is that they

require a supplemental damping device.

Low-Damping Rubber Bearings [1]

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Michael D. Symans (2012)

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Lead Plug Bearings

Lead plug bearings are laminated rubber bearings

that are similar to low-damping rubber bearing
but contain one or more lead plugs inserted into
holes.

Lead-rubber bearings are generally constructed of

low-damping natural rubber with a preformed
central hole, into which a lead core is pressfitted.

Under lateral deformation, the lead core deforms

in almost pure shear, and produces hysteretic
behavior that is stable over many cycles.

Lead plug isolator [1]

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Michael D. Symans (2012)

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Lead Plug Isolators

(Farzad Naeim & James M. Kelly 2nd edtn)

Rubber Layers: Provide lateral flexibility.

Steel Shims: Provide vertical stiffness to support building weight while limiting lateral
bulging of rubber.
Lead plug: Provides source of energy dissipation.
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High-Damping Natural Rubber Systems

Eliminates the need for supplementary damping devices
by increasing the inherent damping of the rubber.
The damping is increased by adding extra fine carbon
blocks , resins or oils and other proprietary fillers.
High-damping rubber bearings are made of specially
compounded rubber that exhibits effective damping
between 0.10 and 0.20 of critical.

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(Farzad Naeim & James M. Kelly 2nd edtn)

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Force Displacement Relationship at

the Isolation Interface

Actual hysteretic behavior

Viscoelastic idealization
Vasant A. Matsagar, R.S. Jangid, (2004)

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Sliding Isolator Bearing

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Friction Pendulum Bearing

FPS is a frictional isolation system that
combines sliding action and a restoring
force by geometry.
The friction must be large enough to
sustain strong winds and small
earthquakes without sliding.

Sliding bearing [9] University of Buffalo Report.

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Double Friction Pendulum Bearing

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Triple Friction Pendulum Bearing

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Sliding with Restoring Force

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Problem Statement
Over the past few decades Major earthquakes (e.g. Northridge,
1994; Kobe, 1995; chi-chi 1999; Kashmir 2005 etc.) have caused
destruction to many structures and also have cost the world many
lives.
The dominant frequency of strong motion is 3-8 Hz within a radial
distance of 20-50 Km from Epicenter. It implies that such a ground
motion can cause severe damage in buildings having a time period
of 1/8-1/3 second (up to 3 story height).
Since most of the buildings have a time period in this range it is,
therefore, needed to design the Optimal parameters of Isolator for
this range of buildings.

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Aims & Objective

To Study the effectiveness of elastomeric isolator for low
rise structures.
To study the effectiveness of using various type of
Isolators for energy dissipation.
To recommend optimal design of isolators in order to
provide best structural resistance.

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Methodology
Phase I

Literature Review
Previous research on the topic..
Possible Approaches for base Isolations.

Phase II

Numerical Modeling
Selection of a suitable approach (and Devices)
Assets requirement

Analysis of Results

Phase III

Comparison of test results with studied

literature
Investigation of Cost and Benefit ratio
Application in construction industry of
Pakistan.
Potential for Future Research.

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Schedule

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References:
[1] MIT Lecture On Seismic Isolation of Buildings by Michael D. Symans
[2] Chopra, A K Dynamics of Structures 3rd Edtn.Pearson Education. Inc.
[3] Pranesh, M. and Sinha, R. (2000) VFPI: An Isolation Device for A Seismic
Design Journal of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, 29, 603-627.

[4] Soong, T. T., Costantinou, M. C., (1994) Passive And Active Structural
Vibration Control in Civil Engineering Springer Verlag Wien New-York.
[5] Farzad Naeim & James M. Kelly Design of seismic isolated structures From
Theory to Practice John Wiley & Sons, inc.
[6] Vasant A. Matsagar, R.S. Jangid, (2004) Influence of isolator characteristics on
the response of base-isolated structures Engineering Structures Volume 26, Issue 12,

October 2004, Pages 17351749

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References:
[7] Deb, S. K. (2004) Seismic Base Isolation An Overview Special Section:
Geotechnics and Earthquake Hazards; Current Science, 87.
[8] Erik A. Johnson & Juan C. Ramallo (1998) Intelligent Base Isolation Systems
Second World Conference on Structural Control,Kyoto, Japan,
[9] Advanced Earthquake Resistant Design Techniques University of Buffalo
Report.

http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoservice/reference_services/adveqdesign.asp

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