The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Optimal design of an earthquake isolation system

Bhatti, M. Asghar; Pister, Karl S.; Polak, Elijah L.

UCB/EERC-78/22, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1978-10, 116 pages (530/B48/1978)

An optimal design of an earthquake isolation system, consisting of natural rubber bearings and special nonlinear energy-absorbing devices, is presented. An algorithm for efficient analysis of structural response, based upon the Newmark and Runge-Kutta methods with optional Newton-Raphson iteration, is given. The optimal design problem, incorporating this simulation algorithm, is formulated as a mathematical programming problem with time-dependent constraints and is solved using a feasible directions algorithm. Several numerical examples are presented, in which it is demonstrated that a properly designed isolation system can substantially reduce structural damage for a class of potential earthquakes.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-78-22.pdf (24 MB)