The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

A displacement control and uplift restraint device for base isolated structures

Kelly, James M.; Griffith, Michael C.; Aiken, Ian D.

UCB/EERC-87/03, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1987-04, 69 pages (530/K38/1987)

A displacement control device is described which can be installed within multilayer elastomeric base isolation bearings. The device acts to limit the displacement of the bearings and can also be used to take uplift tension forces if necessary. The device was tested in earthquake simulator tests of a 9-story, 1/4-scale steel frame model at the Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Univ. of California at Berkeley. The model was isolated using eight multilayer elastomeric bearings, four located at the corners of the model and containing the displacement control devices. The system was subjected to a large number of simulated earthquakes. In some tests, the design acted to control the displacements; and, in others, where uplift forces at the corners were generated, the devices simultaneously limited the displacements and carried the uplift forces.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-87-03.pdf (2 MB)