Numerical simulation of seismic response of a base isolated building with low shear modulus rubber isolators

摘要

This paper describes seismic-response simulations of a base-isolated building subjected to actual earthquakes using the 3-D computer program, SISEC, developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The isolation system consists of six medium shape factor, high damping, and low shear modulus rubber bearings. To ensure the accuracy of analytical simulation, recorded data of full-size reinforced concrete structures located in Sendai, Japan are used as the benchmarks for comparisons of numerical simulations with observations. Results obtained from both analytical simulations and earthquake observations indicate that the advantage of base isolation in mitigating the acceleration of superstructure is very pronounced. For the two representative earthquakes, one had the strongest ground motion and the other one had similar magnitudes as the rest of the earthquakes recorded at the test site, the simulated accelerations at the roof level of the isolated building are about 20% to 30% of the ordinary building accelerations. Also, results reveal that for both ordinary and base-isolated buildings the computed accelerations agree reasonably well with those recorded.