Wind effects on habitability of base-isolated buildings

Abstract A method for habitability analysis of base-isolated buildings under fluctuating wind loads in the time domain is proposed. The superstructure is treated as a flexible structure, and the base isolation system comprises isolators, which are steel-reinforced multi-layer elastomeric bearings, and lead dampers. The reduced hysteresis model is used for the hysteresis loop of elastomeric bearings, and the elastoplastic model for the restoring force of lead dampers. The time histories of fluctuating along-wind and across-wind loads are generated by the multi-dimensional auto-regression method according to power spectra and spatial correlation of wind loads. Some numerical analyses are given and the habitability of base-isolated buildings under wind excitations is studied.