Seismic performance of secondary systems housed in isolated and non-isolated building

Abstract

The concept of base isolation for equipment is well known. Its application in buildings and structures is rather challenging. Introduction of horizontal flexibility at the base helps in proper energy dissipation at the base level thus reducing the seismic demand of the super structure to be considered during design. The present study shows the results of a series of numerical simulation studies on seismic responses of secondary system (SS) housed in non-isolated and base-isolated primary structures (PS) including equipment-structure interactions. For this study the primary structure consists of two similar single bay three-store reinforced cement concrete (RCC) Frame building, one non-isolated with conventional foundation and another base isolated with Lead plug bearings (LPB) constructed at IIT Guwahati, while the secondary system is modeled as a steel frame. Time period of the base isolated building is higher than the fixed building. Due to the presence of isolator, Acceleration response is significantly reduced in both (X and Y) direction of Building. It have been found that when compared to fixed base building, the base isolated building gives better performance in high seismic prone areas.