THE MATERIAL BEHAVIOR AND ISOLATION BENEFITS OF BALL PENDULUM SYSTEM

摘要

Earthquake ground motions often result in significant seismic disasters. Strong ground motions will not only cause damage, but may also cause the collapse of structures. People have to face up the suffering from the earthquake damage, and the indirect loss which may be more serious than the damage itself. For example, the antique breaks in museum, and the equipment damages in hi-tech industries are often in huge loss. Therefore, in addition to promoting the earthquake-resistant capacity of a structure, it is also important to ensure the safety of the ancient valuable objects and the instruments in structures. For this reason, this study is aimed at a new damped rolling type base isolation system named the ball pendulum system (BPS) to be installed under the motion sensitive equipment and proceeding all related studies. The isolation device can isolate earthquake from buildings or equipments in any direction by rolling motions and damping materials. This study has conducted a series of component tests and shaking table tests for examining the behaviors of materials and earthquake proof benefits. From the experiment results, it is found that this device can reduce more than 80% of acceleration response under earthquakes with peak ground acceleration of 450 gal. So, the new rolling isolation system with a damping material can be recognized as a feasible and promising way in mitigating the seismic response of equipment.