Testing Protocols and Acceptance Criteria for Performance Characterization of Pendulum Isolators

Abstract eng:
This paper addresses common issues of testing requirements for seismic isolators in current building standards. The extensive results collected from current prototype tests are only partially utilized to support structural models and design procedures, which often rely on a number of assumptions and simplifications that may significantly affect the prediction of the isolation system performance. The unique database of the behavior of full scale seismic isolators, subjected to a wide range of seismic actions at the experimental facility of the University of California San Diego, is used for a rational review of current testing protocols, with the aim of simplifying and refining pendulum isolators’ performance characterization process. At the same time, observed ranges of variation of critical response parameters allow to propose physically motivated acceptance criteria for the most common technologies currently in use. Examples are provided to show how the results from revised testing programs can be integrated into the design of isolated structures preventing over-simplification in the modelling phase of the device performance.

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