Feasibility Study on Performance-Based Sloped Rolling-Type Isolation Devices

Feasibility Study on Performance-Based Sloped Rolling-Type Isolation Devices

It has been demonstrated from previous studies that sloped rolling-type isolation devices possess steady transmitted acceleration responses in horizontal directions and excellent self-centering capabilities. In addition, built-in damping mechanisms can effectively suppress excessive displacement responses and stop rolling motions during and after excitations. This study aims to derive the generalized equations of motion for sloped rolling-type isolation devices in which the rollers move between two arbitrary sloping surfaces. Moreover, by taking a performance-based design concept into consideration, an isolation device designed with variable-damping and multi-slope mechanisms is proposed and its advantages are numerically verified by using the derived generalized analytical model.