This paper reviews the latest developments made at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment (ELSA) of the Joint Research Centre to extend the spectrum of applications of the, pseudo-dynamic (PsD) methodology. After decades of development, a variety of new testing procedures and numerical schemes have been proposed to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the PsD method. Nevertheless, due to the expanded time-scale of the tests with respect to the real seismic events, the conventional PsD method is not appropriate for structures incorporating materials with significant strain-rate sensitivity. Our main objective is to illustrate the advantages of the continuous PsD testing system developed at ELSA and to show its potentiality to test structures fitted with anti-seismic protection devices constructed with strain-rate sensitive materials. Two specific typologies of seismic protection were tested. The first experimental activity aimed to validate the continuous PsD procedure and was conducted on a scaled five-storey frame structure isolated by means of high damping rubber bearings, which had been tested on the shaking table of ISMES (Italy). A second experimental campaign was conducted on a large-scale reinforced-concrete civil building protected by rubber-based energy dissipators. [References: 22]
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