Mechanical properties of isolation bearings identified by a viscoelastic model

Abstract

The Haringx theory is usually employed to describe the mechanical behavior of rubber bearings subjected to a compressive axial load and a lateral shear deformation, but it does not consider the damping effect. In order to study the behavior of isolation bearings which possess an energy-dissipation capacity, the explicit formulas for the horizontal stiffness of viscoelastic columns and the corresponded height reduction are derived by the method of variable separation. These explicit formulas are then applied to develop an identification procedure to find the shear modulus and loss factor of the rubber using the cyclic shear tests of isolation bearings. Through this identification procedure, the empirical formulas for the shear modulus and the loss factor of rubber are established as functions of the strain amplitude and the excitation frequency.