| Abstract: | Base isolation requires a gap between the base-isolated building and its surroundings to provide space for the deformation of isolation system. Bumping against the surroundings may change the performance of the base-isolated building. In this study, the building is modelled as an elastic or inelastic shear beam and the surroundings is simplified as elastic or inelastic stops. The influence of stop stiffness, gap size and stop strength on the seismic response is studied. Numerical results indicate that the impact wave induced by the bumping can create an extremely high acceleration response in the shear beam, if the shear beam remains elastic. A non-linearly elastic stop model is observed to reduce the acceleration response. If the shear beam yields, the impact wave cannot propagate through the shear beam and the shear beam remains in the low acceleration response except for the base. Changing the stop stiffness or stop strength has little effect on the distribution of ductility demand along the shear beam. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
