Full-scale laboratory investigation on laminated rubber bearings for metro-induced vibration mitigation

Abstract

The vibration response generated by the operation of a metro system has a profound impact on the physical and mental well-being of urban residents. Vibration control is essential to effectively isolate the multi-band vibration response and structure-borne noise of buildings. Laminated rubber bearings between the foundation and the superstructures serve as a common, cost-effective solution for the seismic isolation of structures and have great potential to be used for metro-induced vibration mitigation. In this study, two types of full-scale laminated rubber bearings (i.e., linear natural rubber bearing and lead rubber bearing) were tested under various compressive stresses, ranging from 5 MPa to 15 MPa, to examine the static and dynamic characteristics of the bearings, including vertical hysteresis curves, vertical static stiffness, time history response, and frequency spectrum. Then, the numerical simulation of a base-isolated building structure equipped with laminated rubber bearings was conducted to evaluate the vertical vibration isolation performance and structure-borne noise isolation capability. It was demonstrated that the laminated rubber bearings have stable vertical bearing capacities and performance in isolating vertical vibrations.