• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4A
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• pp.475-485
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• 2008

This paper intends to enhance the reliability and performance of domestic elastomeric bearings through the proposal of directions for the improvement of their stiffness regard to the Korean industrial standard KS F 4420 relative to the evaluation of design/fabrication/quality. Therefore, comparative analysis of the compressive elastic modulus, stiffness measurement method and performance evaluation method of KS F 4420 with those of Eurocode, Japanese bearing manual, and ISO code was performed, and measurement tests on the compressive stiffness and shear stiffness of common elastomeric bearings produced in Korea were conducted. The experimental results reveal that differences of about 20% and 13% occurred respectively for the compressive stiffness and shear stiffness according to the definition adopted for the stiffness. The measured values for the stiffness of the domestic elastomeric bearings were also verified to exhibit large deviation from the formula proposed by KS F 4420. Elastomeric bearings that does not have appropriate compressive stiffness required at the design can result in uneven deflection at supports of bridges and excessive stress in girders. Accordingly, the establishment of compressive elastic modulus formula and performance evaluation criteria fitted to the domestic circumstances through the execution of performance evaluation of bearings presenting diversified shapes and shape factors appears to be necessary for the domestic bearings to meet the performance required in design.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.187-192
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• 2023

An elastic bearing must be strong against vertical loads and flexible against horizontal loads. However, due to the material characteristics of rubber, it may show variability due to the manufacturing process and environmental factors. If the value applied in the bridge design stage and the actual measured value have different values or if the performance during operation changes, the performance required in the design stage may not be achieved. In this paper, the seismic response of bridges was compared and analyzed by assuming a case where quality deviation occurs during construction compared to the design value for elastic bearings, which have not only always served as traditional bearings but also have had many applications in recent seismic reinforcement. The bearing's vertical stiffness and shear stiffness deviation were considered separately for the quality deviation. In order to investigate the seismic response, a time history analysis was performed using artificial seismic waves. The results confirmed that the change in the bearing's shear stiffness affects the natural period and response of the structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.172-173
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• 2009

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.106-111
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• 2017

In this study, the stiffness of an LMU (Leg Mating Unit), which is a device required for installing the top side part of an offshore structure, was examined through structural analysis. This unit is mounted on the supporting point of the structure and is used to absorb the shock at installation. It is a cylindrical structure with an empty center. To support the vertical load, elastomeric bearings (EBs) and iron plates are laminated in layers. The stiffness of the EBs is basically influenced by the size of the bearings, but it varies with the number of laminated sheets inside the same sized structure. The relationship between the stiffener and the compressive stiffness is investigated, and its design is suggested. The stiffness of the EBs is analyzed by calculating the reaction force, while controlling the displacement. First, the relationship between the size of the reinforcing plate and the compressive stiffness is considered. Next, the relationship between the number of stacked reinforcing plates and the compression stiffness is considered. Different loads are required for each installed point. The goal is to design the compression stiffness in such a way that the same deformation occurs at each point in the analysis. In this study, ANSYS is used to perform the FE analysis.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-399
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• 2005

Base isolation technologies have been proven to be very efficient in protecting structures from seismic hazards during experimental and theoretical studies. In recent years, there have been more and more engineering applications using base isolators to upgrade the seismic resistibility of structures. Optimum design of the base isolator can lessen the undesirable seismic hazard with the most efficiency. Hence, tracing the nonlinear behavior of the base isolator with good accuracy is important in the engineering profession. In order to predict the nonlinear behavior of base isolated structures precisely, hundreds even thousands of degrees-of-freedom and iterative algorithm are required for nonlinear time history analysis. In view of this, a simple and feasible exact formulation without any iteration has been proposed in this study to calculate the seismic responses of structures with base isolators. Comparison between the experimental results from shaking table tests conducted at National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taiwan and the analytical results show that the proposed method can accurately simulate the seismic behavior of base isolated structures with elastomeric bearings. Furthermore, it is also shown that the proposed method can predict the nonlinear behavior of the VCFPS isolated structure with accuracy as compared to that from the nonlinear finite element program. Therefore, the proposed concept can be used as a simple and practical tool for engineering professions for designing the elastomeric bearing as well as sliding bearing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.165-170
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• 2011

A large number of seismic isolation systems have been developed since the early 1970s. They are basically a combination of elastomeric bearing and energy dissipators. The investigation described in this paper analyzes shear property and the frequency dependence of Lead Rubber Damper(LRD). Lead Rubber Damper is similar in shape and performance property to Lead Rubber Bearing. Experimental condition ranges from 20 to 200% in share strain and from 0.1 to 1.0Hz in frequency. When the shear strain is increased, effective stiffness and damping ratio are decreased. When the frequency is increased, change of the behavior characteristic is subtle.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2002

In order to apply seismic isolators to low-cost buildings, seismic isolators have to be low-cost and light. In this paper fiber reinforced strip form isolator in which the steel plates of conventional rubber bearing were replaced by fiber was proposed. The proposed fiber reinforced strip form isolator was designed, fabricated, cut and subjected to vertical test and horizontal test. Therefore, fiber reinforced strip form isolator was to be shown valid in the view point of fabrication and application to desired size. The horizontal test and vertical test have shown that fiber reinforce strip form isolator could be replaced the rubber isolator. By these results, low-cost and light seismic isolator can be applied to the low-cost building.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.185-196
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• 2019

One of the shortcomings of seismic bridge design codes is the lack of clarity in defining the role of different seismic isolation systems with linear or nonlinear behavior in terms of R-factor. For example, based on AASHTO guide specifications for seismic isolation design, R-factor for all substructure elements of isolated bridges should be half of those expressed in the AASHTO standard specifications for highway bridges (i.e., R=3 for single columns and R=5 for multiple column bent) but not less than 1.50. However, no distinction is made between two commonly used types of seismic isolation devices, i.e., elastomeric rubber bearing (ERB) with linear behavior, and lead rubber bearing (LRB) with nonlinear behavior. In this paper, five existing bridges located in Iran with two types of deck-pier connection including ERB and LRB isolators, and two bridge models with monolithic deck-pier connection are developed and their R-factor values are assessed based on the Uang's method. The average R-factors for the bridges with ERB isolators are calculated as 3.89 and 4.91 in the longitudinal and transverse directions, respectively, which are not in consonance with the AASHTO guide specifications for seismic isolation design (i.e., R=3/2=1.5 for the longitudinal direction and R=5/2=2.5 for the transverse direction). This is a clear indicator that the code-prescribed R-factors are conservative for typical bridges with ERB isolators. Also for the bridges with LRB isolators, the average computed R-factors equal 1.652 and 2.232 in the longitudinal and transverse directions, respectively, which are in a good agreement with the code-specified R-factor values. Moreover, in the bridges with monolithic deck-pier connection, the average R-factor in the longitudinal direction is obtained as 2.92 which is close to the specified R-factor in the bridge design codes (i.e., 3), and in the transverse direction is obtained as 2.41 which is about half of the corresponding R-factor value in the specifications (i.e., 5).

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.311-318
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• 2020

This study introduces a technique for improving the elastomeric-isolator performance using modular devices. The modular devices are shear resistance block, polymer spring, displacement acceptance guide, and anti-falling block. They are installed on the elastomeric isolator as a supplementary device. Each modularized device improves the isolator performance by performing step-by-step actions according to the seismic intensity and displacement. The PRB isolation device works in four stages, depending on the seismic magnitude, to satisfy the target performance. It is designed to accommodate design displacement in the first stage and large magnitude of earthquakes in the second and third stages. This design prevents superstructures from falling in the fourth stage due to large-magnitude earthquakes by increasing the capacity limit of the elastomeric isolator. In this study, the PRB isolation device is analyzed using finite element analysis to verify that the PRB isolation device works as intended and it can withstand loads corresponding to large-magnitude earthquakes. The performance of the PRB isolation device is validated by the analysis, which is further corroborated by actual experiments.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.615-634
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• 2006

Seismic response of the liquid storage tanks isolated by the elastomeric bearings and sliding systems is investigated under near-fault earthquake motions. The fault normal and parallel components of near-fault motion are applied in two horizontal directions of the tank. The continuous liquid mass of the tank is modeled as lumped masses known as sloshing mass, impulsive mass and rigid mass. The corresponding stiffness associated with these lumped masses has been worked out depending upon the properties of the tank wall and liquid mass. It is observed that the resultant response of the isolated tank is mainly governed by fault normal component with minor contribution from the fault parallel component. Further, a parametric study is also carried out to study the effects of important system parameters on the effectiveness of seismic isolation for liquid storage tanks. The various important parameters considered are: aspect ratio of tank, the period of isolation and the damping of isolation bearings. There exists an optimum value of isolation damping for which the base shear in the tank attains the minimum value under near-fault motion. The increase of damping beyond the optimum value will reduce the bearing and sloshing displacements but increases the base shear. A comparative performance of five isolation systems for liquid storage tanks is also studied under normal component of near-fault motion and found that the EDF type isolation system may be a better choice for design of isolated tank in near-fault locations. Finally, it is also observed that the satisfactory response can be obtained by analysing the base-isolated tanks under simple cycloidal pulse instead of complete acceleration history.