Effective and economic combination of seismic isolation and vibration insulation within one innovative device

Abstract

Seismic isolation is a well-known approach to reduce the risk of casualties as well as structural and content damage due to earthquakes. Vibration insulation on the other hand is increasingly a requirement in urban areas to ensure comfort and/or serviceability despite disturbing high frequency vibrations due to traffic, railway, or machinery. This is especially important for concert venues or scientific and research institutes with rather sensitive equipment. To combine earthquake, structure-borne sound and vibration protection in a very effective and economic way, a combined insulator-isolator was developed - the SIP®-V. The system cost is minimized by the fact that both functions are combined in one single compact device, thus avoiding two separate insulation or isolation layers respectively. The innovation is a PUR-based elastomer bearing integrated into the glider puck of a double curved surface slider (CSS), so that the vertical load for any displacement position is centrally transferred by the PUR-based elastomer pad. The noise insulation can be achieved for frequencies down to 8Hz, which is covering more than 98% of all projects requiring noise insulation. The seismic performance of the device is similar to regular CSS with respect to pendulum radius and dynamic friction coefficients resulting in the necessary damping effects. The SIP®-V devices were extensively tested at Eucentre in Italy to prove reliability and performance for dynamic service and seismic events. The successful implementation of the SIP®-V technology was demonstrated at the BioSense Institute – an agricultural research institute in Novi Sad/Serbia. KEYWORDS: Seismic isolation, noise insulation, damage mitigation, serviceability