Effects of Isolation Period Difference and Beam-Column Stiffness Ratio on the Dynamic Response of Reinforced Concrete Buildings

• Published in: International journal of concrete structures and materials Vol. 9; no. 4; pp. 439 - 451
• Main Authors: Chun, Young-Soo, Hur, Moo-Won
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul 한국콘크리트학회 01.12.2015; Korea Concrete Institute; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Building Materials; Engineering; Solid Mechanics; Structural Materials; 토목공학; acceleration; isolation effect; shaking table test; period ratio; seismic isolation
• ISSN: 1976-0485; 2234-1315
• DOI: 10.1007/s40069-015-0120-9

This study analyzed the isolation effect for a 15-story reinforced concrete (RC) building with regard to changes in the beam-column stiffness ratio and the difference in the vibration period between the superstructure and an isolation layer in order to provide basic data that are needed to devise a framework for the design of isolated RC buildings. First, this analytical study proposes to design RC building frames by securing an isolation period that is at least 2.5 times longer than the natural vibration period of a superstructure and configuring a target isolation period that is 3.0 s or longer. To verify the proposed plan, shaking table tests were conducted on a scaled-down model of 15-story RC building installed with laminated rubber bearings. The experimental results indicate that the tested isolated structure, which complied with the proposed conditions, exhibited an almost constant response distribution, verifying that the behavior of the structure improved in terms of usability. The RC building’s response to inter-story drift (which causes structural damage) was reduced by about one-third that of a non-isolated structure, thereby confirming that the safety of such a superstructure can be achieved through the building’s improved seismic performance.