Experimental dynamics of a bridge deck isolated with rolling pendulum system (RPS)

Abstract

Base isolation of building structures represents the most important technique used worldwide at this moment. An innovative isolation system is presented in this article, whose passive type operating principle is based on rolling of spherical pieces on concave surface part. The isolation system is composed of two main plates and a spherical steel piece is interposed between. Spherical part is the piece that makes disconnection between foundation and superstructure, being able to roll on a concave surface. The disconnection between foundation and superstructure is essential so that ground movements as results of seismic actions are filtered and efforts that may request the structure are much lower in value. An experiment was performed in which a scaled bridge deck structure type was isolated with four isolation systems, in order to observe the behavior of the structure during a seismic action. The experimental results obtained are presented for acceleration in time and frequency, for the three main directions of movement.