Research on Base Isolation for Seismic Retrofitting of Adjacent Structures Connected with a Large Floor

Received: December 19, 2016 Revised: February 06, 2017 Accepted: March 20, 2017 Abstract: Introduction: Seismic isolation has been proven to be an efficient approach to seismic retrofitting of structures based on the concept of reducing the seismic forces by lengthening the structural fundamental vibration period. However, superstructures may collide with each other under seismic excitation as the top displacement increases in the case of base-isolated adjacent structures. The relative displacement of top floors of superstructures is decreased more effectively by connecting the isolation layer of adjacent structures with a large floor, compared with the method to increase the width of seismic joint by using building monolithic movement technology. A specific engineering of base isolation for retrofitting of existing adjacent frame structures is studied in this paper.