Dissipation’s Capacity Study of Lead–Rubber Bearing System in Seismic Steel Structures Design

Abstract

The integrity and serviceability of the steel multi-storey buildings structures against natural hazard such as earthquake were a challenge for structural engineers and researches. The major concern in the design of these structures is to have enough lateral stability to resist wind and seismic forces. There are different ways to limit the lateral drift. Among these ways, there are base-isolation systems which became one of the challenging subjects for researchers from previous years. This paper concerns an examination of the seismic response of multi-storey steel building fitted with lead–rubber base-isolation system using a 3D numerical investigation. Fast nonlinear time history analysis considering Boumerdes earthquake (Algeria, May 2003) is achieved for analysing and carrying out using commercial software. Comparisons between fixed base, bearing base-isolated and braced structures are shown in a tabulated and graphical format. The results of the diverse alternatives investigated to evaluate the structural response with and without this device of dissipation energy thus obtained were discussed. The conclusions showed the good potential of the lead–rubber isolators. This system may improve the dissipative capacities of the structure without increasing its rigidity in a significant way, which contributes to optimize the quantity of steel required for its overall stability.