A base isolation bearing was built and tested. It is based on the same principles as are hydrostatic bearings, but with the advantage of not requiring a constant external supply of pressurized fluid. The bearing is of a very simple design and can quickly be built with readily available materials. Dynamic testing of the bearing was done on a shake table by isolating a three story 3500 lbs steel building model that was submitted to various ground motions. The results from these tests are very promising. They indicate that the bearing's attenuation is velocity dependant and also show the building in sliding mode. At low velocity the ground accelerations are reduced to just below half. At higher velocity the ground accelerations are reduced to at least a tenth.
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