Ahmed Elgamal

Michael Fraser

Seismic Isolation &

Energy Dissipation
Systems

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 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Seismic Isolation Systems

Lead Rubber Bearings

Sliding Systems

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 Ahmed Elgamal
Lead Rubber Bearings Michael Fraser

By using Isolators and dampers, the building is "decoupled" from the ground motion of any
earthquake and the transmission of seismic energy to the building is dampened. This is done
by lowering the vibrational frequency, allowing the building to move or displace, and
lowering the shock acceleration of the seismic event thus reducing the tendency for the upper
floors to move faster than the lower floors. In general, buildings that have been isolated in this
way are subjected to 1/3 to 1/5 of the horizontal acceleration of conventional structures during
a seismic event.

[Link] 3
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Lead Plugs
Lead Rubber Bearings

Rubber
Cover

Lead Plug (provides increased damping)

Steel Plate

Connecting Steel Plate

Rubber
Internal Steel Plate

Steel plates distribute shear forces to the lead core.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 4

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Lead Rubber Bearings
The lead plug increases the damping through the hysteretic shear
deformations of the lead.

Advantages of lead are:

1. It yields in shear at low stress levels
2. Lead has good fatique properties during cycling at plastic strain
3. Lead is readily available at high purities (allows properties to be
predictable).

The layers of steel plates improve the efficiency of the lead plug as
well as the stability of tall bearings under lateral loads
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 5
 Ahmed Elgamal
SDOF System with Base Isolation Michael Fraser

k
ωs =
m
k, c

kb
mb ωb =
kb, cb m + mb

Ground Motion

Equation of Motion (Absolute Reference)

⎡m + mb 0 ⎤ ⎧ &x&b ⎫ ⎡cb 0⎤ ⎧ x&b ⎫ ⎡kb 0 ⎤ ⎧ xb ⎫ ⎡m + mb 0 ⎤ ⎧1⎫
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎨ ⎬+ ⎢ ⎥ ⎨ ⎬+ ⎢ ⎨ ⎬ = − ⎨ ⎬ &x&g
⎣ m⎦ ⎩ &x&s ⎭ ⎣ 0 c ⎦ ⎩ x& s ⎭ ⎣ 0 k ⎥⎦ ⎩ xs ⎭ ⎢ 0
⎣
⎥
m⎦ ⎩0⎭

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 6

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

m 2DOF System Properties

ωb* ≈ ωb
k, c

ωs
mb ω ≈*
s
⎛ m ⎞
kb, cb
⎜⎜1 − ⎟⎟
⎝ m + mb ⎠
Ground Motion

1. The frequency of the base isolator is only slightly affected by

the structure.
2. The frequency of the structure is significantly increased by the
addition of the base mass.
3. The separation between isolation frequency and the structure’s
fixed-base frequency are increased.
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 7
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Change in Mode Shapes

m

⎛ m ⎞⎛ ωb2 ⎞
1 − ⎜⎜1 − ⎟⎟⎜⎜ 2 ⎟⎟
⎝ m + m b ⎠⎝ ωs ⎠
k, c
ωb2 m
ωs2 m + mb
mb
kb, cb

Ground Motion

1 1

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 8

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

The first buildings in the U.S. to be outfitted with base

isolators were:
• The Law and Justice Center in Rancho Cucamonga, California
(1985),
• The Fire Department Command and Control Facility in Los Angeles
(1990),
• The University of Southern California Teaching Hospital in east Los
Angeles (1991). This last building had a severe test in 1994, when the
Northridge earthquake hit. Though it was only 23 miles from the
epicenter, the horizontal acceleration in the building was three or four
times less than the peak acceleration outside: the building was
effectively isolated from the motions that caused significant damage
to buildings nearby.
[Link] 9
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

San Diego County Emergency

Communications Center

38,000 square foot, two-story, state-of-the-art facility built in 1998 to

accommodate the San Diego County Sheriff’s Communications
Center, and the San Diego County Office of Disaster Preparedness
(cost of $5.8 million).

Ability to withstand the destructive forces of an earthquake through

the use of 26 base isolators, allowing the building the flexibility to
move 14 inches laterally and 10 inches vertically.

[Link] 10
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
USC University Hospital

8-story steel superstructure supported by 149 isolators sitting on continuous concrete footings.
During the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the isolators reduced the accelerations by 66% at the
base and 40% at the roof.
[Link] 11
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

USC University Hospital

[Link] 12
 Ahmed Elgamal
Base Isolators and Bridges Michael Fraser

Rubber base isolators are used to replace steel bearings.

These isolators reduce the seismic forces reachings the girders

and reaction forces on the piers.

[Link] 13
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Removing Joints from Bridges

[Link] 14
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Friction Pendulum (Sliding System)
Cover Housing Plate

Self Lubricating
Liner

Articulated
Slider

Concave
Plate
Windlock
Stainless Steel Overlay Assembly
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 15
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Friction Pendulum - Theory

Relying on energy dissipation at sliding interfaces

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 16

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Friction Pendulum – Advantages / Disadvantages

Advantages
• F.P. systems can accommodate much larger levels of displacements than rubber bearings.
• F.P. systems offer more space efficiency (and are shorter) than rubber bearings with the
same displacement capacity.
• By increasing the sliding period, the base shear is reduced and displacements are increased.
• Reducing the coefficient of friction further reduces base shear and increases displacement.
• Offer very predictable performance (particularly over rubber bearings).
• The isolator period is independent of the mass of the supported structure.
• Curvature of the F.P. controls the frequency of the device.

Disadvantages
• These devices are more expensive than rubber bearings (due to construction costs).
• The system offers only some re-centering capabilities.
• There are problems associated with adverse torsional motions in asymmetric structures.
• Can suffer from stick-slip motion and non-uniform pressure distributions on the sliding
interfaces.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 17

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Friction Pendulum – Energy Dissipation

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 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Examples of Friction Pendulum Systems
[Link] [Link]

A F.P. installed as part of a seismic

retrofit of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge
in Memphis, TN. F.P. system installed on the roof of
the Seattle Seahawks stadium

Concave and Slider for

Benicia-Martinez Bridge

U.S. Court of Appeals

[Link]
(San Francisco)
z_bridge.html [Link] 19
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Passive Energy Dissipation Devices

Hysteretic Systems
Friction Dampers
Metallic Dampers
Viscous / Viscoelastic Systems
VE Solid
Viscous and VE Fluids
Tuned-Mass & Tuned-Liquid Dampers

Generally these devices are not used for countering wind loads
because of problems associated with residual displacements.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 20

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Pall Friction Device

When the brace in tension forces the damper to slip, the damper
mechanism forces the other brace to shorten and thus avoid buckling.
In this manner, the other brace is immediately ready to slip the damper
on reversal of cycle.
[Link]

[Link] 21
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Pall Friction Device - Advantages

• Their performance is independent of velocity and hence exerts constant force for
all future earthquakes, design-based earthquake (DBE) or maximum credible
earthquake (MCE).
• A much greater quantity of energy can be dissipated in friction than any other
method involving the yielding of steel plates, viscous or viscoelastic dampers.
Therefore, fewer Pall Friction Dampers are required to provide the required amount
of energy dissipation.
• Introduction of high damping results in reduction of forces and deflections.
• Saving in cost of new construction (1-2%) and retrofit of existing buildings (30-
60%).

[Link]
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 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Pall Friction Device – Energy Dissipation

1. Early on, both braces are active and

behave elastically in tension and
compression.
2. Under very small load, the
compression brace buckles while the
tension brace continues to stretch
elastically.
3. The device is set to slip before
yielding in the tension brace.
4. When load is reversed, brace 2 can
absorb energy in tension.
5. At the completion of the cycle, the
resulting areas of the loops are identical
for both braces.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 23

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Canadian Space Agency

(near Montreal)

58 friction devices, each with a sliding load of 500 kN, were

uniformly distributed throughout the building.
[Link] 24
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Energy Dissipating Restraint (EDR)

(another type of friction device)

EDR Pin

The compression force in

the spring, acting on the
compression and friction
wedges causes a normal
force on the cylinder wall.
The normal force is
proportional to the force in
the spring.
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 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Energy Dissipating Restraint - Continued

The EDR has strong self-centering characteristics and is a friction

damper with friction force proportional to the displacement.

This allows the EDR device to be effective at low and high levels of
excitation.

Due to impact Sliding Device Due to impact

(spring) Portion (spring)
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 26
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Metallic Dampers
Metallic dampers are cheap devices that
dissipate energy through bending. They take
advantage of the hysteretic behavior of metals
when deformed into the post-elastic range (able
to utilize flexural, shear, or axial deformations).

[Link]

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 27

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Viscoelastic Solid (VE) Damper

The VE damper is comprised of

two layers of an acrylic copolymer
Center Plate (3M) material.

Viscoelastic
Material

VE dampers have no threshold or activation force level and

thus they dissipate energy for all levels of earthquake
excitation. This makes them a possible candidate for
dissipating wind induced vibration.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 28

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Fluid Viscous Devices (FVD)

Fluid Viscous damping reduces stress and deflection because the

force from the dampers is completely out of phase with stresses due
to flexing of the columns.

This is only true with fluid viscous damping, where damping force
varies with stroking velocity.

Other types of damping products such as yielding elements, friction

devices, plastic hinges, and visco-elastic elastomers do not vary
their output with velocity; hence they can, and usually do, increase
column stress while reducing deflection.
[Link] 29
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Fluid Viscous Devices - Operation
[Link]

Taylor Fluid Viscous Damper

Compressible silicon oil flows through orifices with high velocity, generating
heat which is radiated into the surrounding air. This hydrodynamic process
dissipates the seismic energy.
FVDs add viscous damping to the structure, and can reduce acceleration and
displacement for the most of the frequency range. FVDs are the most useful
where engineers desire to reduce displacement without increasing the structure’s
frequency.
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 30
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Fluid Viscous Devices - Continued

Linear FVD’s may develop excessive damper forces in long period

structures subjected to intense ground shaking (develops large
structural velocities).

Nonlinear FVD’s are attractive in limiting peak damper forces at

large velocities while still providing the required supplemental
damping.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 31

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Tuned-Mass and Tuned-Fluid Dampers

Tuned Mass Dampers are mass-spring-dashpot systems that are
calibrated to be in resonance with the structure on which they are
installed.

They have been proven effective in reducing wind-induced vibrations

in high-rise buildings, floor vibrations induced by occupancy activity,
and the seismic response of buildings.

TMD’s require a relatively large mass and hence a large floor space
for their installation. In addition, since they are in resonance with the
supporting structure they usually undergo large displacements relative
to the structure to which they are connected.

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 32

 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser

Undamped SDOF System with Tuned-Mass Damper

K
Structure

x1(t) P(t)=P0sin(ωt) Vibration

k
Absorber

x2(t)
This system can be represented as a 2DOF system
⎡M 0 ⎤ ⎧ &x&1 ⎫ ⎡k + K − k ⎤ ⎧ x1 ⎫ ⎧P0sin (ωt )⎫
⎢ 0 m ⎥ ⎨&x& ⎬ + ⎢ − k ⎥ ⎨ ⎬=⎨ ⎬
⎣ ⎦⎩ 2 ⎭ ⎣ k ⎦ ⎩x 2 ⎭ ⎩ 0 ⎭
Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 33
 Ahmed Elgamal
SDOF System - continued Michael Fraser

The forced vibration response is:

x1 = a1sin(ωt) and x2 = a2sin(ωt)

where the constants a1 and a2 represent the amplitude of the main and
secondary mass

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 Ahmed Elgamal
SDOF System - continued Michael Fraser

Solving for a1 and a2 yields:

When the frequency of the absorber (ωa) is chosen to be equal to the

frequency of the disturbing force (ω), the main mass (M) does not
vibrate at all (a1 = 0).
K P0
For the damper, a 2 = − x st = −
k k
The force in the damper varies as –P0sin(ωt), which is equal and
opposite to the external force.

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 Ahmed Elgamal
SDOF System - continued Michael Fraser

Consider the case when the damper is in resonance with the main
system (ωa = Ωn)

k K k m
= or = =µ
m M K M

µ defines the size of the damper as compared to the size of the main
system. The amplitudes of the masses become:

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 Ahmed Elgamal
SDOF System - continued Michael Fraser

Solving for the two natural frequencies

(by setting the denominators in the previous equations equal to zero)
2
⎛ ω ⎞ ⎛ µ⎞ µ2
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ⎜1 + ⎟ ± µ +
⎝ ωa ⎠ ⎝ 2 ⎠ 4

For example, when µ = 0.2:

ω ω
= 0.8 and = 1.25
ωa ωa

Prepared from Dr. Benzoni’s SE207 Base Isolation Course Notes 37

 Ahmed Elgamal
Amplitude spectrum for both masses Michael Fraser

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 Ahmed Elgamal
Taipei 101 Michael Fraser

Taipei 101 is a 508 meter tall, 106 floor

(101 above ground) skyscraper in Hsinyi
District, Taipei, Taiwan.
[Link]

An 800 ton tuned mass damper is held at

the 88th floor, stabilizing the tower against
earthquakes, typhoons, and winds. When
wind acts on the building, the TMD swings
thus absorbing energy and reducing the
building's accelerations by 30 to 40%. [Link]

[Link] 39
 Ahmed Elgamal
Citigroup Center Michael Fraser

Height to roof: 279 meters

Date built: 1977
Use: Office
Location: New York, United States

The 55 story tower is square-shaped and clad in

alternating bands of aluminum and silver glass. The
building has a unique sloped top clad in aluminum,
originally intended to house apartments. Citigroup
Center is elevated 40 meters above the street by
four large columns and the central octagonal shaped
core. This was to provide light at street level and to
avoid a nearby church. The building was one of the
first in the United States to have a tuned-mass
damper.

[Link] 40
 Ahmed Elgamal
London Millennium Bridge Michael Fraser

Construction of the bridge began in late 1998. The bridge was completed at a cost of
£18.2m and opened on June 10, 2000 (2 months late) but unexpected lateral
vibration (resonant structural response) caused the bridge to be closed on June 12 for
modifications. The movements were produced by the sheer numbers of pedestrians
(90,000 users in the first day, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time). The
initial small vibrations encouraging the users to walk in synchronization with the
sway, increasing the effect. This swaying motion earned it the nickname the Wobbly
Bridge.

[Link] 41
 Ahmed Elgamal
London Millennium Bridge Michael Fraser

After extensive analysis, the problem was fixed by the retrofitting of 37 fluid-
viscous dampers to control horizontal movement and 52 tuned mass dampers to
control vertical movement. This took from May 2001 to January 2002 and cost £5m.
After a period of testing the bridge, was successfully re-opened in February 2002.

[Link] 42
 Ahmed Elgamal
Michael Fraser
Additional References:
Dr. Gianmario Benzoni, UCSD, Dept. of Structural Engineering. [Link]
104653/[Link]
[Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]

[Link] [Link]
ridge
[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]
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