Description

Fiber-Reinforced Bearings (FRBs) have proven to be a valuable rubber-based base isolation technology in which flexible fiber reinforcements are used to replace the steel layers commonly adopted for the manufacturing of Laminated Rubber Bearings (LRBs). Thanks to the low weight and cost of FRBs, these devices could prove to be instrumental for the promotion of base isolation applications to houses and residential buildings of developing countries in seismic regions. This report presents the results of a large set of Finite Element Analyses (FEAs) aimed at assessing the performance of FRBs under combined axial and shear loads. The effects of different magnitudes of axial pressure, material properties, and primary and secondary bearing shape factors on the stability of the devices under combined axial and shear loads are discussed in this work. Conclusions of this study underline that the simple design formulae commonly adopted for FRBs underestimate the effect of the axial pressure in limiting the lateral displacement capacity of the bearings. Additional Finite Element Analyses are needed to extend the results of this study to bearings of other shapes, including circular and square isolators.

Publication Date

7-2020

Publication Type

Report

Topic

Transportation Engineering

Digital Object Identifier

10.31979/mti.2020.1929

MTI Project

1929

Keywords

Base isolation, Recycled rubber, Fiber-reinforced bearings, Instability, Finite element analyses

Disciplines

Structural Engineering

Additional Files
1929-RB-Calabrese-Fiber-Reinforced-Bridge-Bearings_0.pdf (367 kB)
Research Brief
Download

Additional files available below

Share

COinS