Floor spectra of mixed base isolated structures

摘要

This work investigates the efficiency of mixed base isolation, combining passive isolation bearings with semi-active (SAC) devices, to reduce the floor spectral acceleration in the vicinity of the non-isolated modes’ frequencies. Both analytical and experimental studies have been carried out. Analytical results of the behaviour of a multiple degree of freedom base isolated structure demonstrate the efficacy of the method. Though the considered controller is based on a reduced order model with only two degrees of freedom (2 DOF) without spillover compensation, the results show that, for the type of structures studied here, spillover effects are not considerable. An experimental study of a 2 DOF model of a base isolated structure equipped with a semi-active magneto-rheological (MR) damper has been carried out. Due to limitations of the experimental set-up, it has not been possible to obtain direct experimental evidence of the efficacy of SAC control to improve floor spectra. Nevertheless, based on the good agreement between analytical and experimental results which validate the considered MR model and control algorithm, numerical analyses of more relevant configurations illustrated the benefit of the utilization of such devices.