Passive and hybrid mitigation of potential near-fault inner pounding of a self-braking seismic isolator

Abstract

A seismic isolated structure is usually a long-period structural system, which may encounter a low-frequency resonance problem when subjected to a near-fault earthquake that usually has a long-period pulse-like waveform. This long-period wave component may result in an enlargement of the base displacement and a decrease of the isolation efficiency. To overcome this problem, a rolling-based seismic isolator, referred to as roll-n-cage (RNC) isolator, has been recently proposed. The RNC isolator has a built-in buffer (braking) mechanism that limits the peak isolator displacements under severe earthquakes and prevents adjacent structural pounding. This paper addresses the problem of passive and hybrid mitigation of the potential inner pounding of the self-braking RNC isolator under near-fault earthquakes. Numerical results show that the RNC isolator can intrinsically limit the isolator displacements under near-fault earthquakes with less severe inner pounding using additional hysteretic damping and active control forces.