Experimental and numerical studies on multi-spherical sliding friction isolation bearing

An innovative multi-spherical sliding friction isolation (MSFI) bearing has recently been developed. The novel isolator has efficient energy dissipation capacity and enough displacement capacity under strong earthquake excitations. The MSFI bearing is completely passive devices, yet shows smart stiffness and smart damping under external excitation. The principles of operation and force-displacement relationship of the novel isolator are presented in this paper. The sliding order of all sliding surfaces and force-displacement hysteretic relationship are verified through a displacement-control testing program, and numerical analysis of the MSFI bearing under low cyclic loading is carried out based on ABAQUS program. The results show the sliding order and force-displacement relationship of the MSFI bearing derived from theoretical analysis results and numerical simulation results are well agree with experimental data which the compression-shear testing of the MSFI bearing specimen with the identical curvature radii and friction coefficients. The adaptive behavior of MSFI bearing permits the isolation system to be separately optimized for multiple levels of seismic intensity and ground motions.

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