Horizontal shaking table tests on structures using innovative earthquake mitigation devices

Abstract

Viscoelastic (VE) devices have been widely used to mitigate the dynamic responses of the structures resulting from the earthquake or the strong wind for more than 20 years. These devices are usually installed in the upper portion of the structures to reduce the vibration responses. Few devices, however, are attempted to mitigate and isolate multidimensional vibration energy at the same time. In this paper, an innovative device, multidimensional earthquake isolation and mitigation device (MEIMD), is proposed, which can perform its “name-giving” task of earthquake isolation and earthquake mitigation simultaneously. In order to fully quantify the earthquake isolation and mitigation effects on structures equipped with the MEIMD, the following tasks are performed. Firstly, shaking table tests on steel frame structures with and without the devices are carried out. Secondly, based on the recorded data of the acceleration and displacement responses of the tested structures, the analysis of dynamic characteristics is performed. Finally, a comparison between the finite element analytical and experimental results for the test structure is presented. All of results, on the one hand, illustrate that the finite element numerical results are accordant with the experimental results; on the other hand, they demonstrate that the devices not only have remarkable earthquake isolation action but also have fine mitigation effect in horizontal direction.