Seismic responses of multi-story building isolated by Lead-Rubber Bearings considering effects of the vertical stiffness and buckling behaviors

Elastomeric isolation bearing is one of the most commonly efficient devices and widely applied for protecting constructions in the earthquake regions. Its significant lateral deformation during operation, however, may affect its load-carrying capacity, especially the stability of the bearing. The current preliminary design method often focuses on shear behavior without effects of vertical stiffness and stability conditions that do not reflect the practical operation of devices. The paper presents the effect of vertical stiffness and buckling behavior on the seismic performance of lead-rubber bearing (LRB) used for seismic isolation in multi-story buildings. The effective parameters of LRB are estimated by the single-mode spectral analysis method, through a bilinear model, calculated by a typical target spectrum of Eurocode 8. A two-spring equivalent model is employed to study the effects of the vertical stiffness and critical buckling load that is varied as a function of lateral deformation. A set of time history nonlinear analysis is conducted to investigate the effects of vertical stiffness and critical buckling load on the seismic responses of building structures. The findings show the taking into account of the vertical stiffness and buckling behavior results in an increase of lateral displacements and a decrease of the lateral force and the floor acceleration of the isolated building. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.