International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 1 (2016) pp 557-563

Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

Need of Efficient Hybrid Base Isolation Technology from Current

Practice
Aravinthan.k
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department,
EASA College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: aravinthank444@gmail.com
Venkatesh Babu. D.L
Professor, Civil Engineering Department,
JSS Academy of Technical Education, Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: drdlvbabu@gmail.com
Prince Arulraj. G
Professor, Civil Engineering Department,
SNS College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: deancivil@snsct.org

acceleration induced by an earthquake is through isolation of

the load bearing structures from

Abstract
The Recent trends in design of base isolated structures and
its characteristics, efficiency, advantages and the limitations
of the isolators are discussed in this paper. Elastomeric
Bearings such as High Damped Rubber Bearing (HDRB),
Lead Rubber Bearing (LRB), Sliding Isolation systems such
as Flat type, Friction Pendulum System (FPS), Variable
Frequency Pendulum Isolator (VFPI), Conical Friction
Pendulum Isolator (CFPI), Polynomial Friction Pendulum
Isolator (PFPI), Variable Frequency Friction Pendulum
Isolator (VFFPI), Robinson roball system supplemental
dampers and other most recent types of isolator are reviewed
and the strong and weak areas are highlighted so as to give a
clear picture to the emerging isolating devices for an efficient
isolation system. A new isolator namely Hybrid Seismic
Isolator (HSI) which is a combination of the elastomeric and
friction pendulum isolators is suggested. This device might
overcome the limitations of the existing isolators and it can
achieve a diplomatic solution for base isolation technology
with the guidelines of AASHTO code, NEHRP ,FEMA P 751 & 450, IBC code.

the transmitting medium. Base isolation protects the structure

against seismic forces. It decouples a superstructure from
substructure resting on shaking ground. The basic difference
between an isolator and damper is, a good isolator minimises
the natural frequency of the system to below the excitation
frequency and a good damper takes mechanical energy out of
the system. The fundamental period of the structure is
increased when using a suitable base isolation system in
comparison to the fixed base structure and secondly, the
isolation efficiency increases as the earthquake intensity
increases. The effectiveness of base isolation systems
depends on the characteristics of input excitations as well as
the properties of the isolation devices and superstructure.
Hence, there is an essential need to do a comprehensive
initial study to investigate the efficiency of a particular base
isolation system for a structure with respect to the seismic
map to the area and the characteristics of the probable
earthquakes. The number of isolated structures in different
countries like Japan, Russia, China, USA, Italy, Armenia,
Newzealand were 1600, 500, 458, 100, 27, 14 and 11
respectively up to December 2000 to 2003.Every year the
number of isolated structure is increasing.

Keywords: Base isolated structure, Earthquake resistant

Structure, Elastomeric Bearing, Friction Pendulum, Hybrid
Seismic Isolator (HSI) Bearing, Supplemental Dampers.

Most of the practical isolation system works best with heavy

masses. To obtain effective isolation, we need to achieve
along a long period of responsiveness. The response of an
isolated structure can be 1/2 to 1/8 of the traditional
structure. Low weight structure is not effective under
elastomeric bearing type as referred in Kelly, J.M. (1986)
and specifies that for a rigid based structure from Eq. (1) if
m is small then period must also be small. If we have
lighter structure, such as single storied building of 2 or 3
storeys, then it is difficult to isolate to periods greater than

Introduction
The natural phenomena called earthquake is created by the
movement of the tectonic plates that include shocks and
impulse of devastating magnitude of the ground level
transmitted through the earth. The most logical method and
effective protection from the overwhelming degree of

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 1 (2016) pp 557-563
Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
1s to 1.5s. Alternatively, very heavy buildings are relatively
simple to isolate to a long period 2.5s to 3s. Damping
reduces with the displacement after reaching at a peak
relative to small displacement and unfortunately the larger
the earthquake, the larger will be the displacement, since this
is rare, we require a minimum damping to control the
displacement and force. Damping reduces by reducing the
yield level (as a fraction of the building weight) and
unfortunately the higher the yielding level the less effective
the isolation system will be less effective under small to
moderate earthquake. This is because the isolation system
does not start to function until the yield threshold is exceeded
and alternatively if high threshold is provided, then the
system will not function under more frequent earthquake.
Tn= 2 (m/k)

Types of Isolators
Many types of isolation system has been developed in
various stages of era in base isolation technologies, with
some remaining no more than a concept and others are
implemented in practice. The following are the generic types
of isolation system introduced by researchers from past to
current practice. The NEHRP (2012) standard requirements
are intentionally broad, accommodates all types of isolation
systems to be acceptable, if they
remain stable for maximum earthquake displacements,
provides increasing resistant with increasing displacement
having limited degradation under repeated cycles of
earthquake load, well established and repeatable engineering
properties (effective stiffness and damping).

(1)

Elastomeric Bearing:
Basically an elastomeric bearing is made of alternate layers
of either natural rubber or synthetic rubber (neoprene) rubber
and steel plates bonded together as a unit. Since the guideline
given by Trevor E Kelly, S.E., (2001) indicate that the rubber
layers are mostly 8mm to 20mm thick, separated by 2mm to
3mm thick steel plates and steel plates prevent the rubber
layers from bulging and so the unit can support high vertical
loads with small vertical deflection (generally 1mm to 3mm
under full gravity load). It also states that this elastomeric
bearings do not restrict horizontal deformation of rubber
layers in shear and so the bearing is much more flexible
under lateral loads than vertical loads, typically by at least
two orders of magnitude. These types are extensively
functioning well for more than 50 years of service. They
have little inherent damping usually 2% to 3% of critical
viscous damping. From this guideline, it is found that the
elastomeric bearing specifies the below features.

The characteristics such as MCE(Maximum Considered

Earthquake) DLE(Design Level Earthquake) levels are
defined by UBC for DLE levels of earthquake, damping of
15% and 20% are generally be achieved and for high seismic
zone, the damping at MCE levels of load will often not
exceed 10% to 12% when the MCE is very large,
supplemental dampers may be required to boost the damping
at larger displacements and this is a very expensive option.
Anastastasia Athanasiou and Nicholas D. Oliveto, (2012)
have shown that the base isolation can meet a critical
condition in at least of two cases, resonance or near
resonance condition and near fault condition. One case
occurs in the presence of deep soft soil deposit as in Mexico
city and the LAquila basins .It appears that the Italian
scientific community of earthquake engineering recognizes
that a standard structural engineering design office is
equipped with necessary to delve through such problems and
come out with a reliable, safe design. The US community
does not show such a level of confidence and still requires a
peer review and comprehensive testing.

Advantage: Low in transferring structural acceleration to the

superstructure and low cost.
Limitation: Higher displacement to major earthquakes.Low
damping. No resistance to service loads and P- moment on
top and bottom.

The cost of the isolation will always be an important

consideration and one of the first concerns of any project by
inventors. By and large, a new isolated structure costs more
than a non isolated one. Also the extra engineering works in
order to analyze and detailed design of the structure and its
isolation system are vital. On the other hand, the flexibility
of the superstructure in a base isolated building is generally
less than the non isolated building which can cause the
reduction of construction cost. For a feasible structure, there
are other consideration when selecting a highly damped
system may give rise to higher floor acceleration than lighter
dampers it is essential to select the appropriate isolation type
for the specific site and mass of the structure. However, the
most significant advantage of using the base isolation system
is the better performance of the structure during an
earthquake which may save many lives. This could be
categorized as an investment for future cost saving. This
paper indicates the possibilities of developing an efficient
hybrid base isolation technology efforts from the latest
technologies and most recent state of the art practices for
isolation system. The following are the most often used
isolation technologies in current practice.

High Damped Rubber Bearing (HDRB):

The blend of high damped rubber is used in this bearing.
Kelly J. M. (1997) discusses that the HDRB applies to
elastomeric bearing usually when they provide a significant
amount of damping usually 8% to 15% of critical damping.
This increased damping is produced by modifying the
compound of rubber and altering the density of molecules.
For most of the HDRB used to date the effective damping is
around 15% at (25% to 50% strains) reducing to 8% to 12%
for strains above 100% although some synthetic compounds
can provide 15% or more damping at higher strains. KL301
manufactured by Bridgestone corporation Ltd, Japan has,
shear modulus of 4.3MPa at very small straining, which
decreases to 0.65 MPa at 50% strain, 0.43 MPa at 100%
strain and 0.34 MPa at 150 percentage strain. The amount of
damping is obtained from tabulated equivalent viscous
damping for particular elastomeric compounds. This
reference also indicates the following,

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 1 (2016) pp 557-563
Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Advantages: Moderate in structural acceleration. Resistance
to service loads and moderate to high damping.

compressive stress than elastomeric bearing (i.e., 15 MPa-60

MPa). Also, the bearing can uplift without the dislocation of
isolated system and most common sliding surface is Teflon
on stainless steel. This has a low statistic coefficient of
around 3 percentage. However, with increasing velocity, the
coefficient increases significantly and at earthquake
velocities (0.2 to 1 m/s), the coefficient is generally about
8% to 12%. For preliminary design, a constant coefficient of
friction of about 10% is usually assumed. The excitation
force necessary for triggering of isolators is (mxxg) greater
than frictional force.
A pure sliding system will have an upper bound
displacement, with an upper limit equal to maximum ground
displacement for a coefficient of friction close to a zero. The
system provides no resorting force so the isolated structure
will likely end up in a displaced position after an earthquake
and may continue to displace with aftershocks. This
limitation can be overcome by using sliding bearing surface
with spherical sliding surface rather than flat sliding surface.

Limitations: Strain displacement stiffness and damping.

Complex in analysis. Limited choice of stiffness and
damping. Change in properties with P- moment on top and
bottom.
Lead Rubber Bearing (LRB):
The LRB is composed by lead plug force fitted into a
preformed hole in an elastomeric bearing. The lead core
provides rigidity under service loads and energy dissipation
under high loads. The top and bottom plates are thicker than
the internal shrinks, which are used to place the mounting
hardware. The whole LRB is encased in rubber cover to
provide environmental protection. During a minor
earthquake, wind or traffic load, the LRB is stiff both
laterally and vertically. At higher load levels the lead yields
and the lateral stiffness of the bearing significantly reduces.
This produces the period shift effect characteristics of base
isolation. During moderate and large earthquake, the plastic
deformation of the lead absorbs the energy through hysteric
damping as referred by Anil K Chopra (2007) .

Advantage: The acceleration response is independent of the

frequency and amplitude of excitation. Hence this isolator
can be used for all kinds of site.

Advantages: The major advantage of LRB is that it has high

rigidity service load levels, flexibility at earthquake load
levels and damping into a single compact unit and it is used
for structures in high seismic zones and for structures where
the rigidity under service load is important (e.g. Bridges).
Wide choices of stiffening /damping are available.Stable
character of isolator over a long working life, recovery of
displacement after an earthquake and the vertical tension
capacity are good. The isolators are insensitive for
foundation settlement, which are generally small in
magnitude. It could adjust the force by the deformation of the
rubber bearing when foundation settlement of the building
happens before and after the earthquake.It also helps to
decrease the temperature stresses.

Limitations: If adequate resistance is needed and

unnecessary movements are to be avoided, an elevated value
of friction coefficient is required. But, elevated level of
friction coefficient results in further input force equipment
from sliding of isolator and hence, under minor earthquake
excitation, isolator remains in non sliding phase and structure
behaves as a fixed structure. This results in displacement and
acceleration in top mass.The system consists of laminated
neoprene pad topped by led bronze plate which is the
frictional contact with steel plate anchored to the base raft of
the structure. It has a very low displacement capacity (5cm
approximately). When this capacity is exceeded, the sliding
element provides the movement needed .The system does not
include any resorting device and permanent displacement
could occur. It is implemented in nuclear power plant
Koberg in South Africa.

Limitation: There can be cyclic change in properties of

isolating material and P- moment on top and bottom.

Friction Pendulum System (FPS)

Sliding Isolation System (Flat type)

The FPS has a spherical concave surface as a base of isolator

and an articulated element as a slider. The isolator provides a
resistance to service load by coefficient of friction once it
overcomes as indicated by Zayas V.A., (1990) The
articulated slider moves and because of the spherical shape, a
lateral movement is accompanied by a vertical movement of
the mass. Due to the concavity of the base, at the end of the
earthquake, the slider will come back to its original position
under gravitational force. Hence resorting the structure at its
original position and minimizes residual displacement. The
control on natural period (Tn) of supported structure is
achieved by choosing the radius of curvature (r), of the
concave surface.

The sliding isolator is more effective under all types of

earthquakes, because it has large sliding displacements. A
sliding system is simple in context and has a theoretical
appeal. A layer with the definite coefficient of friction will
limit the acceleration. The force transmitted will be the
product of weight and co-efficient of friction as assumed by
Trevor E Kelly, S.E. (2001). Alaa Barmo et.al. (2015) stated
that the sliding bearing provides an elastic perfectly plastic
hysteresis shape by means of no strain hardening if the
applied force exceeds the product of coefficient friction to
the weight . The total buzzer on the structure is limited to the
sliding force.
Guidelines given by the UBC(1991 & 1999) and AASHTO
(2010) also specify that the isolated system should be
capable of accommodating three times the earthquake
displacement required. A sliding bearing such as a part
bearing used as a sliding surface can take the higher

Tn =2(r/g)

(2)

M.D.Symans,et al (2008) indicated the following advantages

and limitations

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Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Advantages: The observation and experimentation show, an
ideal bilinear response of friction pendulum system with non
observable degradation under repeated cyclic loading. The
FPS isolator holds their full strength and stability throughout
their displacement range. If the sliding period is increased,
then the base shear reduces and hence the displacement
increases. Again, if the frictional coefficient is reduced, the
base shear reduces and increases the displacement. Thus the
frictional coefficient should be such that it should provide
sufficient rigidity as well as the isolation by shifting the
effective period for the duration of pulses.

Conical Friction Pendulum Isolator (CFPI)

investigation by Lu L. Y., Shih M. H. & Wu C. Y., (2004)
made to think the researchers that this sliding isolation
system is not much more effective under the action of near
fault (pulse type excitation) and low frequency motions. The
sliding of isolator is too high under this action of low
frequency and as the above mentioned methods.

Polynomial Friction Pendulum Isolator (PFPI)

The isolator is similar to typical FPS, except that the sliding
surface is made axially symmetric surface with a variable
curvature. A fifth order polynomial function is carried out to
identify the geometry of sliding surfaces by Lyan-Ywan Lu,
Jain Wang and Chao-Chun Hsu, (2006)
y'(x) = ur ( x) / P =a x5+ c x3 + e x
(5)
y'( x) =resorting course function.
ur ( x)=normalized force with respect to vertical load P.
y ''( x) =normalized isolator stiffness.
y" (x) = k (x) / P = 5a x4+ 3c x2 + e
(6)
There are two process parts in displacement in this type of
isolator. The softening and hardening sections were aimed to
control the structural acceleration and isolator drift,
respectively because of a, c, e in the above equation and have
no engineering meaning.
a= -ko+ k1 / -5(D1)4
c=2(-ko+ k1 )/ -3(D1)2
e= ko
Where,
ko =normalized initial stiffness at x=0,"y''(" 0) = ko
D1=critical isolator drift.
x =D1 is the retroflexion point of the function.
k1 =normalize isolated stiffness at x=D1.

k=w/r=weight of the structure above/radius of curvature of

the concave surface.
Limitations: The total force resisted by the spherical sliding
bearing is directly proportional to the supported weight. If all
isolator in a system are of the same dimension subjected to
same displacement then the total force in each individual
bearing is a constant times the weight supported. Due to this
condition the center of mass and center of stiffness of the
isolated system will coincide and there will be no torsional
movement condition if the mass and the stiffness is not
eccentric.It has a constant time period, which is mainly
dependent on the radius of curvature. Hence, FPS needs to be
designed for specific Intensity of ground excitation and FPS
may not give satisfactory performance under lower or higher
intensity that coincides for design.

Variable Frequency Pendulum Isolator (VFPI)

Murnal Pranesh and Sinha Ravi (2004) explained that
geometry is derived from elliptical shape, to achieve a
progressive shift at different level of response or intensity.
VFPI is relatively flat than FPS, which reduces vertical
displacement for identical sliding displacement. If the slider
has a single point of contact with a curved surface, it does
not interfere with the glossy movement of the slider. The
frequency of VFPI is kept variable for its best result under all
intensities of excitation. VFPI has the advantage as the above
sliding isolator type.
The geometry of the VFPI is derived from the equation of an
ellipse,
Y=b [1 - ((d2 + 2 d x Sinx) /d+ x Sinx)]
(3)
Frequency
2 (x)= i2 /((1+r)2(1+2r)
(4)
Where,
i2 =gb/d2 =square of initial frequency of the isolator (at
zero displacement).
b and d = breadth and depth of VFPI isolator.
R = x Sinx/d.
x=The isolator displacement at any
instant.
Limitation: This isolator is less effective under near fault
ground motion and low frequency ground motion in the
above condition response is found to be large.

This isolator is capable of handling long period, pulse and

simultaneously reduces the oscillator drift when compared
with FPS.

Variable Frequency and Friction Pendulum

Isolator (VFFPI)
Agrahara Krishnamoorthy (2010) stated that the frictional
coefficient of VFPS is varied in the curve with an
exponential function. For VFFPI isolator, the radius of
curvature is varied exponentially with sliding displacement
to extend the isolator with varying curvature. The VFFPI is
proposed to have a lower coefficient of friction in the central
portion and higher value in the peripheral region.
R ( x) = C (exp(x) -1)
(7)
C = 84 (1+ 0.2 R)
(x) = ((0.8 +0.1 (x/R))
(8)
(x) = coefficient of friction at sliding displacement.
x = maximum value of (x) is limited to
(x) varies from 0.04 at x=0 to 0.05 at x 0.12 m
For =0.05 and = 0.1, it varies from 0.08 at x =0 to
0.1 at x 0.18 m
The minimum frictional coefficient is only 0.8 times
coefficient of friction of the conventional sliding surface.

Supplemental Dampers
The Supplemental damper system does not have an inherent
resorting force and damping, when compared to elastomeric

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Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
bearing and sliding system. They may also be used in parallel
with damped devices such as LRB or HDRB to control
displacement in near faults. They can be either hysteresis or
viscous. For hysteresis damping, the force is the function of
displacement, for e.g., a yielding cantilever for viscous
damper the force is the function of velocity e.g., shock
absorbers. Trevor E Kelly, S.E.(2001). The object of using
energy dissipating device is to dissipate earthquake induced
energy in the structure. In devices designed especially for
this purpose to minimize the energy dissipation demand by
the inelastic action in primary structural member, by
controlling the response inter storey drift, reducing non
structural damage. Lower acceleration in the structures,
which leads to lower demand on the primary structural
system. Some of the energy dissipating devices are
neutralization of friction, metallic, hysteresis viscous and
visco-elastic material.

Limitations

Limitations: Practically it is difficult to achieve high levels

of viscous damping in response to the earthquake. The
damping energy is converted to heat and materials exhibit
highly viscous behavior, therefore the dampers lose the
effectiveness as the earthquake amplitude and duration
increases unless the large volume of materials are used. The
hardware of this type of dampers is expensive. The viscous
damping force is out of space with the elastic force in the
system and do not add to the total force at the maximum
displacement. In concept, this is more attractive than the
hysteresis damping.

Materials and behavior

familiar to
practicing
engineers.
-

Possible
debonding and
tearing of VE
material.
(Reliability
concern).

Sliding interface
conditions may
change with
time (reliability
concern).
Strongly
nonlinear
behavior, may
excite higher
modes and
require
nonlinear
analysis.
Permanent
displacement if
no resorting
force
mechanism
provided.

Robinson roball isolator

Robinson W.H. (2002) developed an isolator based on the
inverted pendulum concept. It consists of friction balls or the
roballs moving between the upper and the lower spheres like
cavities or flat plates. The roballs are filled with the materials
which will be able to provide the frictional force required to
absorb the energy from numerous earthquake while
supporting structure. The rolling action of the roball means
that the device itself has no design displacement limit and so
the maximum displacement is limited only by installation
requirement. The dynamic behavior of the device is
independent of both frequency and ambient temperature
within ranges.

Table 1: Summary of hysteretic behavior, advantage and

limittion of passive energy dissipation device for
seismic protection.

Advantages: The roball is an economical alternate to existing

seismic isolation devices. It has no inherent displacement
limit and provides a constant coefficient of friction, allowing
greater freedom in the choice of the resorting force and may
also be used as a buffer. This can be used for a light structure
to be more economically seismically isolated as the buffering
roball has two very desirable characteristics. It absorbs
energy and gently increases the stiffness at large
displacement amplitudes. It is useful for minimising the
transmission of vertical earthquake forces to the isolated
structure.

Friction
damper

Idealized
hysteretic
behavior
(y axis force & x
axis displacement
)
Advantage

temperature.

Device
damaged after
the earthquake
may require
replacement.
Insensitivity Properties are Nonlinear
to ambient frequency and behavior, may
temperature temperature require
dependent.
nonlinear
analysis.

There is a
possibility of
fluid seal
leakage
(reliability
concern)

Advantages: It controls the displacement and it is

inexpensive. The limitations of the hysteresis damping are it
adds force to the system during an earthquake in addition to
the yielding of the system. Advantage of the viscous dampers
is that while controlling the displacements, less force is
needed than hysteresis dampers. The limitation is that it is
expensive and the availability is limited.
The following are the other types of viscous and hysteresis
dampers suggested by M. D. Symans, et al(2008) [7] that are
shown in table-1

Descriptions Viscous fluid Visco elastic Metallic

damper
fluid damper damper

modeling of therefore
damper is
simplified
simplified. modeling of
the damper.
Properties
largely
frequency
and
temperature
independent.
Proven
record of
performance
in military
application.
Large energy Limited
dissipation deformation
per cycle.
capacity

Activated at Activated at Stable

Large energy
low
low
hysteretic
dissipation per
displacement. displacement. behavior.
cycle.
Minimal
Provides
Long term
Insensitivity to
resorting
resorting force. reliability.
ambient
force.
temperature
For linear
Linear
Insensitivity to damper,
behavior and ambient

Limitation: Robinson W.H. and Gannon C.R(2006)

developed and tested for the vertical pressure of
approximately 1MPa with a range of coefficient of friction ,
available range from 0.1 to 0.4 further it has to be tested for
other combinations.

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Hybrid isolator with passive energy dissipator
S.J.Patil and G.R.Reddy (July 2012) developed hybrid
isolator with the passive energy dissipations. The response
controlled by visco-elastic dampers, which are made of linear
spring and dash pots provided bracing effects in buildings.
Elasto-plastic dampers made of small X shaped plates,
which yield at smaller deformation thereby dissipate the
high amount of energy. Lead extrusion damper works on the
principle of extrusion of lead. It absorbs vibration energy by
plastic deformation of the lead, during which mechanical
energy is converted into heat, lead gets heated up on being
extruded, lead re-crystallizers immediately and recovers its
original mechanical property before next extrusion.

Other new types of isolators

Spring type isolation system
This type of isolator consists of large helical springs having
flexibility both in horizontal and vertical direction. The
vertical frequency of the system is 3 to 5 times the horizontal
frequency. It is used on 2 stored steel framed house in Santa
Monica, California. These houses were strongly affected by
the 1994 North-Ridge earthquake.
Geo synthetic materials
In this isolator, the use of high strength non-woven Geotextile is placed over the ultra high molecular weight
polyethylene(UHMWPE). The two materials have a static
friction co-efficient 0.1 and dynamic friction co-efficient of
0.07. The Geo-synthetic material placed underneath the
foundation of structure and over a linear will allow the
dissipation of earthquake energy in sliding friction.

Codal provisions for base isolation structures

The countries like U.S have developed guidelines for the
design of base isolated structures which contain in
FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency) 450.Many
countries as of now do not have provision of guidelines for
design of base isolated structures.Some provisions are given
in table 2 which shows the lower limit bound for different
properties of new isolators are given below.

Elliptical rolling rods

The principle of isolator is low coefficient of friction ensures
the transmission of limited earthquake force into the
structure and further elliptical rods also provide a resorting
force that both reduces the peak displacement and brings the
structure back to its original position after earthquake. About
90% of its peak value of the top absolute acceleration is
reduced when compared to the fixed base structure. Free
circular rolling rods located between the base and foundation
of the super structure into orthogonal direction to reduces
seismic force. It has low value of rolling friction coefficient
which, as a result, allows a very low earthquake force to
transmit to the superstructure and suffer in re-centering
capability resulting in large peak and residual base
displacement R.S.Jandig and Y.B.Londhe (1998).

Table 2: Lower limit bound for different properties

of isolator.
Design parameter ELF procedure

DD
=
Design
displacement-DD
(SDiTD/BD)
Total
design
DT > 1.1D
displacement-DT
Maximum
displacement-DM

(g/4

Dynamic properties
Response Response
Spectrum history
2)

0.9DT

0.9DT

DM
=
(g/4 2) (SM1TM/BM)
Total
maximum DTM 1.1 DM
0.8DTM
displacement-DTM
Design shear-Vb (at
or
below
the Vb = kDmax DD
0.9Vb
isolation system)
Design
shear-VS
(regular
super- VS= K Dmax DD / R1 0.8VS
structure)
Design shear VS
(irregular
super- VS=K Dmax DD R1 1.0VS
structure)
Drift
(calculated
0.015hsx
0.015hsx
using R1 for Cd)

Advantages: The rolling rods are their low values of rolling

friction coefficient,which,as a result a very low earthquake
force to be transmitted to the structure.The effectiveness of
the rolling rods decreases with the increase in the
fundamental period of the superstructure.Elliptical rolling
rods are quite effective in seismic response without
undergoing large displacement, or leaving a large base
residual displacement and increase in the eccentricity of
elliptical rods were found to decrease the peak and residual
displacement.
Limitations: This system suffers from re-centering capability
resulting in large peak and residual base displacement.These
elliptical rods cannot be used for large structures.The
effectiveness of elliptical rods decreases with an increase in
flexibility of the super structure.

0.8DTM
0.9Vb
0.6VS
0.8VS
0.020hsx

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seismic isolator, and magneto rheological (MR) dampers,
acting as semi active controlling device up to 50% of
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