Impediments to the Implementation of Seismic Isolation

There are over 125 civil engineering structures worldwide that have been constructed using the principles of seismic isolation and 15 of these are in the United States. Although use of the technology is increasing in the United States it is significantly less than that seen in Japan and New Zealand. Some of the impediments that have been encountered, such as design codes, economics and government leadership are discussed and the paper provides a summary of the status of some of the solutions required for its more widespread use in the United States. A comparison with the Japanese implementation process is also provided.