BASE ISOLATION FOR SEISMIC

SAFETY OF NEW DESIGNS AS

WELL AS RETROFITTING

By
S.K. Thakkar
Former Professor of Earthquake Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
NDMA Course February-March 2013
 Earthquake Engineering Issues

Retrofitting of
New Designs Existing Structures
 Earthquake Protection

Traditional Design Structural Control

Elastic-Plastic
Elastic
Design
Design Passive Active
Strength &
Strength
Ductility

Base Isolation

Energy Dissipating
Device
 Structural Control

Structural control deals with control and

reduction of response of civil
infrastructures under the action of
earthquake, wind and man made loads
 Seismic Design Approach

Traditional Seismic Base Isolation

•Seismic demand reduced

•Reduced floor accelerations,
•Fixed to ground
Inter storey drifts
•Amplification of Acceleration
•Structure decoupled from ground
•Structural and Non-structural Damage
•No non-structural damage
•Capacity is increased to meet the demand
•Seismic gap control
•Suitable for retrofitting
 Basic Concepts of Force Reduction
 Damage potential of earthquake is because of
closeness between fundamental period and
frequency content of seismic input
 Higher the damping lower the force to be
resisted by the structure and more
displacements
 Period shift
 Add damping by external devices
 Modify the structural form
 Structural Control
 Buildings are being designed to control and
reduce structural response to earthquake motion
 Demand/Force reduction
 Vibration control
 Enhance occupant comfort
 Enhance seismic performance/safety &
serviceability
 Application to new and existing buildings
 Base Isolation Concept
 Mount the structure on
flexible base
 Decoupling of structure
 Filtering of high
frequencies
 First mode : rigid body
mode
 No higher mode response
 Some damping is
beneficial
 Reduction of seismic
demand
Developments in Base Isolation

 First Patent in 1909

 Rubber
Technology, sliding
systems
 High quality
elastomeric
bearings
 Design and
manufacture of
 Developments in B.I….

 Computer software
for seismic analysis
of B.I. buildings
 Shake table testing
and validation of
mathematical
model
 Techniques for site
specific earthquake
 Types of Structural Control
 Active control: It deals with the control and reduction of response
of structure by applying counter forces through actuator (s) in a
prescribed manner. The actuators are driven by external power
source
 Passive control: It deals with the control and reduction of
response of structure by incorporating passive devices in the
system. These devices impart forces that are developed in response
to the motion of the structure
 Hybrid control: It deals with the control and reduction of response
of structure by a combined use of active and passive control devices
 Semi-active control: These are a class of active control systems
for which external energy requirements are orders of magnitude
smaller than typical active control systems
 Basic Elements-B.I.

 Flexible mounting
 Damping or energy dissipator
 Rigidity under low lateral loads
Basic Types of Isolation System
 Elastomeric bearings

Laminated – rubber bearing

 Sliding system

Details of Slider
 Types of Base Isolation
 Elastomeric bearings
 Lead rubber bearings (LRB)
 High damping rubber bearings (HDR)
 Elastomeric bearing/friction plate
 Resilient friction base isolator (R-FBI)
 Friction pendulum system (FPS)
 Rollers or ball bearings
Elastomeric Bearing Force-displacement loop of low
Damping elastomeric bearing

Elastomeric bearing and force-displacement loop

of high damping bearing

Elastomeric bearing and force-displacement loop of bearings

Lead rubber bearing Force-displacement loop

Lead rubber bearing and force-displacement loop (dashed curve

For rubber bearing) and solid curve for lead-rubber bearing
Friction Pendulum System Force-displacement loop

Friction Pendulum System and Force-displacement loop

Classification of Dampers for Base
Isolation Systems
Dampers

Metals-
Liquid Friction Viscous Hysteretic
Dampers

Oil Water
 High Damping Natural Rubber
Bearing
 Development of Malaysian rubber producer’s association
(MRPRA) of U.K
 Bearings possess mechanical properties ideal for base
isolation systems
 Shear stiffness is high at small strains, decreases by a
factor of 4 to 5 as strain increases reaching a minimum
value at 50% shear strain. For strains greater than
100%, the stiffness begins to increase again
 Damping decreases from an initial value of about 20% to
minimum of 10% and than increases again
 High stiffness is used for wind or low intensity
earthquake and the large strain response only for fail-
safe action
High-damping natural rubber bearing used to isolate the Los Angeles County
Emergency Operation Centre
 Examples of base-isolated
construction
 USA, Japan, Chile, New Zealand, Italy,
Indonesia, P.R. China
 Acceptability of Base Isolation
Solution
 Cost-effectiveness
 Lack of design capabilities, design codes
 Lack of proven performance in big
earthquakes
 Codes of Practice

 Uniform building Code, UBC-97

 International building code, IBC-2000
 The philosophy of code is that isolated
buildings out perform fixed base
construction in moderate and large
earthquake. It is not the intent of code to
reduce construction cost but to minimize
damage and its contents
 Uplift and overturning

 Effect of uplift to be examined more

carefully
 Elastomeric bearings are not suitable for
resisting large tensile loads
 Optimum strategy should be to avoid or
minimize uplift
 Design methods of B.I.

 Static analysis: This establishes a

minimum level for design displacements
and forces. Useful for preliminary design
of isolation system and structure
 Dynamic analysis: Response spectrum
analysis or time history analysis is required
in all cases
 Site specific spectra: It should be
developed both for DBE and MCE instead
 Books on seismic isolation

 Skinner, Robinson and Mc Verry: An

Introduction to Seismic Isolation, J. Wiley
& Sons, New York, 1993
 Kelly, J.M.: Earthquake Resistant Design
with Rubber, Springer-Verlag, New York,
1993
 Soong, T.TY. And Constantinou, M.C.:
Passive and Active structural control in
Civil Engineering, Springer-Verlag, New
 Testing requirements for
isolators
 Code testing requirements of isolators for
acceptance are specified in IBC-2000
 Two full size specimen of each type of
isolator should be tested
 Specification of sequence and necessary
number of cycles
 Typically, 20 number of fully reversed
cycles of loading is to be applied at
displacement corresponding to design
Guide lines for bearing location

 The bearing location should permit access

for inspection and replacement should this
become necessary
 Free space for maximum displacement
should be available
 Backup system for vertical loads
 Continuity of services at the plane of
isolation: stairways, elevators
 Other design considerations

 Connection details: Bearing free to deform

in shear, connection should be able to
transfer maximum seismic forces, Ease of
construction, access for installation,
temporary support for the superstructure
 Provision for bearing removal and
replacement
 Backup safety system: This provides a
means of supporting the vertical loads and
 Performance of Base Isolated
building in Kobe Earthquake (1995)
 West Japan Postal Computer Centre located in Kobe
Prefecture
 6 storey building supported on 120 elstomeric isolators
with a number of steel and lead dampers
 Isolation period = 3.4 sec, located approximately 30 km
from epicentre of Kobe earthquake
 Peak ground acceleration under the isolation = 0.41g,
reduced by isolation system to 0.13g on sixth floor
 No damage to the isolated building, a fixed based
adjacent building experienced some damage
 Issues in Base Isolation
 Characteristics of earthquake : high frequency, low
frequency : (0-33 Hz); 10-12 Hz; 15-20 Hz; near field
motion
 Type of foundation : rock, medium soil, soft soil
 Types of isolation system : Low Damping Rubber
Bearing, High Damping Bearing, Friction Pendulum
System (FPS)
 Optimum damping in isolation system
 Number of storeys in building
 Seismic gap
 Building type : symmetrical/ unsymmetrical, frames and
shear wall, hospital, computer facilities
 Seismic Isolation for New
Construction
 Low- rise/ medium rise buildings
 Shear walls/ braced frames: 12 to 15 storey
 Stiffer soil: more effective
 Near fault situation: large displacements can
occur, not effective
 Low frequency ground motions: not effective
 Effective when fixed base periods are less than
1.0 second
Plan of Building Side elevation of 4 storey base isolated building
 Optimum Damping

 Decrease in response is insignificant when

damping reaches an optimum value
 5% damping for motion with high
frequencies not more than 15% damping
is required
 Depends upon characteristics of ground
motion and building height
Base Isolation for Tall Buildings

 Choice of isolation period and damping

can enable it to be effective for tall
buildings
 Isolation period: 2.0 to 3.0 second
 B.I. of Buildings
Suitability Unsuitability
 Low and medium rise  Tall buildings
buildings (4 to 8 storeys)  Buildings on soft soil
 Critical buildings:  Earthquake having large
Hospital, School, Police, velocity pulse:
Communication, post- Earthquake near fault
disaster importance region, low frequency
 New or retrofitting of dominated motion, like
buildings Mexico earthquake-1985
 Cost - effectiveness
 Comparison between conventional and isolation
scheme designed to provide same degree of
protection
 In a typical design, isolated design was 6% less
costly than conventional design
 For most projects, isolated design costs 5%
more compared with conventional code design
(Kelly, 1997)
 Isolation building will turn out to be cost
effective if equivalent level of design
performance is compared
 Retrofitting of Buildings

 Conventional technique: increase the

strength, such as add shear walls, braces,
infills, jacketing etc.
 Base isolation: reducing demand on the
structure
 Base Isolation for Retrofitting
 Great number of buildings lack capacity to
resist future earthquakes
 Base isolation is suitable alternative for
historical/ Monumental masonry building
 Choice of isolation system and damping
devices
 Intervention required only at foundation
level
Retrofitting of Historical Structures

 Many masonry structures, heritage structures

are brittle having no ductility are highly
vulnerable to earthquake damage
 Base isolation is the engineering solution for
retrofitting as brings down the level of forces to
a elastic level. Base isolation imparts some
energy absorption to the system. No
intervention is required in the structure above
ground.
 List of Historical Buildings Retrofitted
Using Base Isolation
Structure Type of Year of Year of Isolation System
Construction Construction Retrofitted
Mackay School of Unreinforced 1908 1990 High damping
Mines, Reno, brick, wood floors rubber bearing
Nevada, U.S. and roof trusses and sliders
City and County Unreinforced 1894 1987 Lead-rubber
Building, Salt Lake, brick and bearings
Utah, U.S. sandstone
Church of S. Peitro, Unreinforced - 1991 High damping
Frigento, Italy masonry rubber bearings
Ninth Circuit US Non ductile steel 1905 1994 Friction pendulum
Court of Appeals, frame and system (FPS)
San Francisco, Unreinforced
California, U.S. masonry cladding
The Bell Tower of Unreinforced 1153 1992 Elastomeric
Melfi, Italy masonry bearings
City Hall, Oakland, Non ductile steel 1914 1994 Lead-rubber
California, U.S. frame and bearings
Unreinforced
masonry cladding
Old Parliament & Masonry bearing 1921 1995 Lead-rubber
Assembly Library, wall structure bearings
New Zealand
 Passive Energy Dissipating Systems
Methods
 Conversion of Kinetic Energy to Heat
Passive devices: Frictional sliding, yielding of metals,
transformation in metals, deformation of viscoelastic
solids, fluid orificing

 Transfer of Energy among Vibrating Modes

Passive devices: Dynamic vibration absorber, tuned
mass damper (TMD)
 Energy Dissipating Devices
 Metallic yield dampers
 Friction dampers
 Visco-elastic dampers
 Tuned mass dampers
 Tuned liquid dampers
 Shape memory alloy (SMAs) dampers
(Nickel-Titanium or Nitinol) –S shaped
hysterisis
Fig. 2 Pall Friction Damper (Pall and March 1982)
Fig. 5a Viscoelastic Damper (Shen and Fig. 5b Typical Hysteretic Loops (Shen and
Soong 1995) Soong 1995)
Fig. 3 X-Shaped ADAS Device (Whittaker et al. 1991)
 Tuned Mass Damper (TMD)
 Concept dates back to 1940
 Secondary mass + tuned spring and
damping element
 Effective in reducing wind excited
vibrations reducing seismic response
of tall buildings
 First mode response substantially
reduced, response in higher modes
marginally reduced
 MTMD can be installed
 B.I.+TMD use possible, effective in
reducing relative displacement of
system
 Issues in Passive Energy
Dissipating Devices
 Suitability of buildings for S.D.
 How much damping should be provided
 How should the dampers be distributed in
a building
 Amount of S.D.
 How damping affects response of flexible
structures
 Damper hardware costs
 Desired structural response
 Providing 10% to 20% supplemental
damping reduces response significantly for
most structures
 Candidate Structures for S.D.

 Type of structural system, its dynamic

characteristics
 Characteristics of expected ground
motions
 Inter storey drift (ISD) response capacities
 S.D. suitable for flexible buildings that can
tolerate ISD of about 0.01
 Active Control Systems
 Sensors which measure the response of structures or external excitations
 Controllers to compute the necessary control forces from the information of sensors
based on a control algorithm, and
 Actuators to generate the required forces
 A.C.S. can give much effective control in first and higher modes
 Active Mass Damper

 Use of inertia forces of auxiliary mass

 Moving masses + actuators
 TMD + actuators
 Small space on roof for installation
 Challenges in Active Control
 Development of control actuators for strong
earthquakes
 Reduction of capital cost and maintenance
 Eliminating reliance on external power
 Increasing system reliability and robustness
 Gaining acceptance of nontraditional technology
 Semi Active Control (SAC)
 These combine best features of both active and
passive control
 SAC devices offer the adaptability of AC devices
without large power sources. In fact these can
operate on battery power
 SAC device is one that cannot inject mechanical
energy into the controlled structural system but
can reduce optimally the structural response
 Design Codes for Structural Control
Methodologies

 Design code formulation is a first step for applications:

allow use of performance based approach (life safety +
economic performance)
 Development of design philosophy
 Establish a process to assure performance
 Structural Control: Future
Possibilities
 Passive control has greater possibility for future
applications: B.I., P.E.D., T.M.D.
 Combination of technology has better prospects:
- B.I. + P.E.D.
- B.I. + T.M.D.
- A.C. + P.E.D.
 Active control has many difficulties for civil
structures
 Semi Active devices have greater potential in
control technology
 Conclusions
 Application of base isolation for new structures/
retrofitting of structures
 Base isolation is the only engineering solution to mitigate
high floor acceleration, and inter storey drift, suitable for
historical buildings
 Principal issues: lack of codes of practice, cost-
effectiveness, lack of proven experience in bigger
earthquake
 Technique has great potential of structural response
control of high tech structures
 Need : identify sites, types of structures, types of
isolation systems, cost effective solutions