FE modelling of fiber reinforced elastomeric isolators (FREI): Mesh verification and validation

Abstract

Seismic isolation is an effective technical solution to reduce the vulnerability of new and existing structures. It can mitigate the negative impact of an earthquake by shifting the period of the structure in that range of the spectrum where the spectral acceleration is low. A well known and relatively cheap seismic isolation device is the so-called elastomeric isolator. The fabrication cost of such isolator can be reduced by the utilization of fiber lamina instead of steel. In this work, finite element (FE) modeling of fiber reinforced elastomeric isolators is discussed. In numerical modelling, the main characteristic of elastomeric materials is the hyperelasticity, which can be taken into account in the commercial FE code that was used in the present study (namely ABAQUS). In this paper, an interesting issue highlighted is the mesh verification on FE models of an elastomeric material embedded into a seismic isolator.Seismic isolation is an effective technical solution to reduce the vulnerability of new and existing structures. It can mitigate the negative impact of an earthquake by shifting the period of the structure in that range of the spectrum where the spectral acceleration is low. A well known and relatively cheap seismic isolation device is the so-called elastomeric isolator. The fabrication cost of such isolator can be reduced by the utilization of fiber lamina instead of steel. In this work, finite element (FE) modeling of fiber reinforced elastomeric isolators is discussed. In numerical modelling, the main characteristic of elastomeric materials is the hyperelasticity, which can be taken into account in the commercial FE code that was used in the present study (namely ABAQUS). In this paper, an interesting issue highlighted is the mesh verification on FE models of an elastomeric material embedded into a seismic isolator.