• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.37-52
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• 2019

Despite its success and wide application, base isolation system has been challenged for its passive nature, i.e., incapable of working with versatile external loadings. This is particularly exaggerated during near-source earthquakes and earthquakes with dominate low-frequency components. To address this issue, many efforts have been explored, including active base isolation system and hybrid base isolation system (with added controllable damping). Active base isolation system requires extra energy input which is not economical and the power supply may not be available during earthquakes. Although with tunable energy dissipation ability, hybrid base isolation systems are not able to alter its fundamental natural frequency to cope with varying external loadings. This paper reports an overview of new adventure with aim to develop adaptive base isolation system with controllable stiffness (thus adaptive natural frequency). With assistance of the feedback control system and the use of smart material technology, the proposed smart base isolation system is able to realize real-time decoupling of external loading and hence provides effective seismic protection against different types of earthquakes.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.71-81
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• 1990

The isolation system is installed at the base of a structure for reduction of the earthquake damage to the structure. In the 1970', when the laminated rubber bearing(LR type) is developed, the isolation system is put in practice. And recently a new isolation system(SR type), including the laminated rubber bearing with the friction plate beneath, is developed. In this thesis, a study on the base isolation effect, for various of the isolation system and structure properties, is performed. The results of this parameter study show that the isolation system can reduce the earthquake damage of the building structures significantly. As the period of isolation system increases, the isolation effect increases and converges to zero damage. As the number of story increases, the isolation effect reduces. It is found that SR type isolation system is more effective than LR type because SR type base isolation system reduces acceleration, drift and total displacement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1077-1099
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• 2016

One of the main shortcomings in the current passive base isolation system is lack of adaptability. The recent research and development of a novel adaptive seismic isolator based on magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) material has created an opportunity to add adaptability to base isolation systems for civil structures. The new MRE based base isolator is able to significantly alter its shear modulus or lateral stiffness with the applied magnetic field or electric current, which makes it a competitive candidate to develop an adaptive base isolation system. This paper aims at exploring suitable control algorithms for such adaptive base isolation system by developing a close-loop semi-active control system for a building structure equipped with MRE base isolators. The MRE base isolator is simulated by a numerical model derived from experimental characterization based on the Bouc-Wen Model, which is able to describe the force-displacement response of the device accurately. The parameters of Bouc-Wen Model such as the stiffness and the damping coefficients are described as functions of the applied current. The state-space model is built by analyzing the dynamic property of the structure embedded with MRE base isolators. A Lyapunov-based controller is designed to adaptively vary the current applied to MRE base isolator to suppress the quake-induced vibrations. The proposed control method is applied to a widely used benchmark base-isolated structure by numerical simulation. The performance of the adaptive base isolation system was evaluated through comparison with optimal passive base isolation system and a passive base isolation system with optimized base shear. It is concluded that the adaptive base isolation system with proposed Lyapunov-based semi-active control surpasses the performance of other two passive systems in protecting the civil structures under seismic events.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2011

Base isolation system is widely used for reduction of dynamic responses of structures subjected to seismic load. Recently, research on a smart base isolation system that can effectively reduce dynamic responses of the isolated structure without accompanying increases in base drifts has been actively conducted. In this study, a smart base isolation system was applied to an arch structure subjected to seismic excitation and its control performance for reduction of seismic responses was evaluated. In order to make a smart base isolation system, 4kN MR dampers and low damping elastomeric bearings were used. Seismic response control performance of the proposed smart base isolation system was compared to that of the optimally designed lead-rubber bearing(LRB) isolation system. To this end, an artificial ground motion developed based on KBC2009 design response spectrum was used as a seismic excitation. Fuzzy control algorithm was used to control MR damper in the smart base isolation system and multi-objective genetic algorithm was employed to optimize the fuzzy controller. Based on numerical simulation results, it has been shown that the smart base isolation system can drastically reduce base drifts and seismic responses of the example arch structure in comparison with LRB isolation system.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 2011

In this study, a smart base isolation system has been proposed to reduce dynamic responses of a spacial structure subjected to seismic excitation. MR dampers and low damping elastomeric bearings were used to compose a smart base isolation system and its vibration control performance has been investigated compared to that of the optimally designed lead-rubber bearing (LRB) isolation system. Control performance of smart base isolation system depends on control algorithm. Fuzzy controller was used in this study to effectively control the spacial structure having a smart base isolation system. Dynamic responses of the spacial structure with isolation system is conflict with base drifts and thus these two responses are selected as objective functions to apply multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimization of fuzzy controller. Based on numerical simulation results, it has been shown that the smart base isolation system proposed in this study can drastically reduce base drifts and seismic responses of the example spacial structure in comparison with the optimally designed LRB isolation system.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.437-444
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• 2006

Recently, as large structures become lighter and more flexible, the necessity of structural control for reducing excessive displacement and acceleration due to seismic excitation is increased. As a means to minimize seismic damages, various base isolation systems are adopted or considered for adoption. In this study, a base isolation system using Magneto-Sensitive(MS) rubbers is proposed and shown to effectively protect structures against earthquakes. The MS Rubber is a class of smart controllable materials whose mechanical properties change instantly by the application of a magnetic field To demonstrate the advantages of this approach, the MS Rubber isolation system is compared to Lead-Rubber Bearing(LRB) isolation systems and judged based on computed responses to several historical earthquakes. The MS Rubber isolation system is shown to achieve notable decreases in base drifts over comparable passive systems with no accompanying increase in base shears or in accelerations imparted to the superstructure.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.99-106
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• 2020

If an excessive displacement occurs in the base isolation system, the structure will be damaged due to overturning of the upper structure. In this study, we analyze the behavior of base isolation by applying earthquake to base isolation with anti-uplift device. In the case of structures that generate horizontal reaction forces such as arch structures, horizontal reaction forces must be considered in the design of the base isolation and structural members. And anti-uplift device for preventing the excessive displacement of the base isolation system is needed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.586-594
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• 1999

To limit both the large displacement and acceleration response of the structure efficiently, the relationships between acceleration and displacement responses of the structure under several earthquakes are investigated for various horizontal stiffness of the base isolation system to determine the effective stiffness of the base isolation system in this paper. An example structure is a five-storey steel frame building as the primary structure and the secondary structures are assumed to be located on the fifth floor of the primary structure. Input motions used in the structural analysis are El Centre 1940, Taft 1952, Mexico 1985, San Fernando 1971 Pacoima Dam, and artificially generated earthquakes. The relationships of the absolute peak acceleration and the displacement at the top of the structure are calculated for various natural periods of base isolators under various earthquakes. The peak acceleration response of the fifth floor in the base isolated structure is significantly reduced by a factor of 2.1 through 6.25. Also, the relative displacement response of the floor to the base of the superstructure is very small. The results of this study can be utilized to determine the effective stiffness of the base isolation system.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.236-243
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• 1999

A comparative study on aseismatic performances of various base isolation systems for the multi-span continuous bridge is carried out. Several leading base isolation systems the LRB system the RF system the R-FBI system and the EDF system are considered, The displacement of the deck the deformation of the upper ends of the piers the shear force and the bending moment of the lower ends of the piers are obtained by using the accelerograms of the N00W component of El Centro earthquake(1940) and the N90W component of Mexico City earthquake(1985) Nonlinear time-history analysis is carried out. comparisons of the results with the conventional bearing show that the base isolation systems are very effective in reducing the forces transmitted to the superstructures. Furthermore the results also show that the friction-type base isolation systems are less sensitive to unexpected variations in frequency content of the ground acceleration. The R-FBI system shows a good aseismatic performance comparing with other base isolation systems.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.755-770
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• 2009

This study proposes a new smart base isolation system that employs Magneto-Rheological Elastomers (MREs), a class of smart materials whose elastic modulus or stiffness can be varied depending on the magnitude of an applied magnetic field. It also evaluates the dynamic performance of the MRE-based isolation system in reducing vibrations in structures subject to various seismic excitations. As controllable stiffness elements, MREs can increase the dynamic control bandwidth of the isolation system, improving its vibration reduction capability. To study the effectiveness of the MRE-based isolation system, this paper compares its dynamic performance in reducing vibration responses of a base-isolated single-story structure (i.e., 2DOF) with that of a conventional base-isolation system. Moreover, two control algorithms (linear quadratic regulator (LQR)-based control and state-switched control) are considered for regulating the stiffness of MREs. The simulation results show that the MRE-based isolation system outperformed the conventional system in suppressing the maximum base drift, acceleration, and displacement of the structure.