Journal of Testing and Evaluation | 2019
Earthquake Isolation of a Spring-Damper-Friction System with a Convex Friction Distribution
Abstract
When a structure is isolated by rubber bearings and viscous dampers, some of those bearings are often destroyed by an earthquake, causing a rough friction interface with large friction coefficients, while other contact surfaces around the damaged bearings are very smooth with smaller friction coefficients. A typical spring-damper-friction isolation system with a convex friction distribution is formed because the viscous dampers and other undamaged bearings can still work normally to provide the damping and restoring forces, respectively. The seismic isolation trend of this system is analyzed by artificially supposing the friction distribution to be theoretically and linearly convex. The calculation results validate that the convex pattern of friction distribution reduces the earthquake isolation efficiency and should be avoided in the actual projects.