The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Base isolation in Japan, 1988

Kelly, James M.

UCB/EERC-88/20, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1988-12, 90 pages (530/K38/1989)

A base isolation study group led by Professor James M. Kelly of the Earthquake Engineering Research Center of the Univ. of California at Berkeley visited 14 sites in Japan, between May 24, 1988, and June 5, 1988. The purpose of the visit was (1) to learn of recent developments in base isolation in Japan; (2) to examine the base isolation systems that have been implemented in Japan; (3) to learn of the performance of these buildings in recent earthquakes; (4) to discuss the possibilities for future cooperation between base isolation researchers in Japan and the United States; (5) to understand the reasons for the enthusiastic acceptance and implementation of this technology in Japan; and (6) to ascertain the amount of funding for base isolation research in Japan. A summary of the observations of the group at each site is given. The body of the report presents detailed analyses of individual base-isolated demonstration buildings and concludes with a group summary of the current commercial application of base-isolation systems in Japan.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-88-20.pdf (39 MB)