The paper presented herein investigates the ability of an adaptive seismic isolation system to protect structures subjected to disparate earthquake ground motions. The isolation system consists of sliding isolation bearings in combination with an adaptive hydraulic damper. The damping capacity of the hydraulic damper can be modified in real time to respond to the effects that the earthquake ground motion has on the structure. An experimental laboratory implementation of the adaptive isolation system within a scale-model building structure is described. Analytical models of the isolation system components and the test structure are developed and calibrated through experimental system identification tests. Results from experimental shaking table tests are then used to validate the results from numerical simulations which utilized the analytical models. Although the adaptive base-isolation system results in a complex nonlinear dynamic system, the analytical predictions agreed reasonably well with the experimental test data. The experimental and analytical results demonstrate that, for both near-field (pulse-type) and far-field earthquake ground motions, an adaptive sliding base isolation system is capable of reducing the interstory drift response of structures while simultaneously limiting the displacement response of the isolation system.
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