Evaluation of response of an isolated system based on double curved surface sliders

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of seismic isolation within the Italian and European context is gaining more and more acknowledgement, thanks to the high level of protection from the earthquake damage which can be guaranteed. However, the installation of devices within complex structural systems may influence the actual response due to the random variation of the installation and operating conditions with respect to the theoretical model. It is then of paramount importance a proper assessment of the overall isolating system response, considering the variability of the construction conditions. The main objective of the present work is to study the response of a particular installation system for Double Curved Surface Sliders (DCSS) for buildings with large plan development in case of construction defects related to the non-perfect co-planarity of the devices. A case study is presented, in which the effects of randomly simulated construction defects are analyzed. Preliminary results showed that the simulated construction defects have only limited influence on the global hysteretic behaviour of the system and that the simultaneous loss of contact may occur only for a limited number of devices. On the other hand, the effects of the vertical and horizontal force redistribution may cause important increase of the actions locally induced in the base connecting slab and create an eccentricity of the resultant horizontal force.