Investigation of the consequences of mounting laying

defects for curved surface slider devices under general

seismic input

M. Furinghetti1, C. Casarotti1, A. Pavese2

1
EUCENTRE - Pavia
via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia - Italy
e-mail: marco.furinghetti@eucentre.it

t
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2
University of Pavia
via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia - Italy

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a.pavese@unipv.it

ABSTRACT

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Experimental studies performed on friction-based isolators have shown widely sparse frictional response, as

direct effect of intrinsic properties of the devices and the vertical load variation. Moreover, in practical
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applications mounting laying defects consisting of uneven inclinations of the sliding surfaces with respect to the

horizontal plane have been recognized as potential cause of deviation from the response assumed in the design
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phase.

In this paper mono and bi-axial motions of a base-isolated RC building have been investigated; the aim of the
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work is to identify the effects of both laying defects and friction variation on the seismic response.
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Keywords: CSS devices, Mounting Laying Defects, Seismic Isolation, Friction Coefficient, Bi-Directional

Motion
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Mounting Laying Defects for sliding devices

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1. INTRODUCTION

Design approaches of seismically isolated structures addressed in most of the codes of practice are

based on the assumption that the isolation device(s) can be modelled by using a linear spring: the

stiffness corresponds to the secant value at the maximum displacement, while the friction force

developed at the sliding surface is employed to define the equivalent damping factor. The dynamic

assessment of the coefficient of friction in sliding pendulum have pointed out several aspects relevant

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in the design of seismic isolated structures [ Furinghetti et al., 2014, Lomiento et al., 2013]: the most

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important are the variation influenced by the contact pressure fluctuation, the sliding velocity, the

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roughness of the surfaces in contact, the heat developed during motion and the physical degradation

of the surfaces in contact as a direct effect of the use [Quaglini et al. 2014, Khoshnondian and

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Hagdonst 2009]. Most of the studies, both experimental and analytic, carried out in the past are

focused on monoaxial response of single and double concave surface sliders (SCSS and DCSS,
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respectively) [Fenz and Constantinou, 2006]. For the bi-directional motion case, a limited number of

numerical studies are available in literature, and even though experimental tests on full scale devices
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have been carried out in the recent past, the accessible data are limited [Tsopelas and Constantinou,

1996, Lomiento et al., 2013]. In the very recent past, a large number of bi-directional tests have been
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carried out on full scale DCSS devices, leading to interesting results on the seismic behaviour of such

isolators under biaxial excitations [Furinghetti et al., 2014]. Furthermore the devices are always
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assumed to be installed in ideal geometric conditions, without considering local defects deriving from
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the uncertainties of the installation procedure, which may imply uneven inclination of the sliding

surfaces with respect to the horizontal plane and thus determining irregularities of the vertical load
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distribution on the devices grid. Another important aspect for sliding-based devices is represented by

the recentering capability, which has been more and more investigated in last years [Cardone et al.

2015, Quaglini et al. 2017]: anyway, there is no available research about possible effects of

installation defects on residual displacements at the end of a seismic event, which could be also

increased by the non-negligible variability of frictional properties of all the implemented devices.

A recent study on a system isolated with DCSS devices has been carried out using a plan (radial)

model of the devices, mounting laying defects have been considered in the global response using a

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simplified approach [Casarotti et al., 2013, Furinghetti et al. 2012]. In this paper the implementation

of an improved model of the device is presented, based on the outcomes of several experimental

campaigns performed with the Bearing Tester System at TREES Lab Eucentre, Pavia (Italy).

The present study analyses the horizontal response of a R.C. building, base-isolated by means of an

array of DCSS, under both unidirectional and bidirectional input motion, aiming at defining the

effects of frictional variation and mounting defects on the global response of the isolated building.

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The relation between horizontal and vertical displacements of each isolator is derived from the

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geometric definition of the sliding surfaces and the internal slider, whereas the hysteretic response has

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been calibrated by using the outcomes of several experimental campaigns performed on about 200

devices. In the geometric model the mounting laying defects are simulated applying random

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inclinations of both the sliding surfaces with respect to the horizontal plane. Since the variation of the

sliding velocity causes limited effects on the lateral response of CSS devices, compared to those due
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to the applied vertical load fluctuation, in this work the dynamic friction coefficient has been assumed

to vary as a function of the vertical force only [Calvi et al., 2004, Furinghetti et al., 2014].
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Furthermore, no cyclic degradation of the friction coefficient value has been implemented in the

analyses [Furinghetti et al. 2015].

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A careful analysis of mounting laying defects effect on the response of the whole system has been

performed; results were analysed in terms of maximum number of simultaneous detached devices,
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variation of vertical load applied on each device and variation of the dynamic friction coefficient in
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each device. Moreover, special attention has been focused on local variations of the internal forces

applied to the superstructure (bending moment in the slab for instance) due to the detachment of the
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devices, and the redistribution of the vertical reactions.

2. TRIDIMENSIONAL MODEL OF THE DEVICE

The mechanical model of the friction pendulum has been implemented assuming the geometrical

properties of a DCSS: the isolator is composed of two steel bases, upper and lower, separated by a pad

bearing as schematically represented in Figure 1. Each device is mounted between the concrete slab at

the base of the building and the supporting columns. The bases of the device have a spherical shape

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on the side in contact with the pad bearing to allow a continuous contact during motion, on the side in

contact with the superstructure and the supporting columns (interfaces) have flat shapes theoretically

parallel to each other.

In real applications two thin layers of mortar are inserted in the lower and the upper contact interfaces

in order to compensate the geometrical irregularities and to smooth the stress distribution. In the

present paper such layers are not directly included in the model of the device: however the

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inclinations of both the sliding surfaces, as results of an inaccurate installation, have been taken into

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account as better described in the following.

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2.1 Geometric and kinematic model

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The three-dimensional model of the DCSS has been developed considering 3 degrees of freedom: 2

horizontal translations and the rotation about the vertical axis. Such degrees of freedom are relative
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displacements of the upper base respect the lower one, whereas the vertical displacement for each

isolator is derived from the geometric shapes of the sliding surfaces and the horizontal translations. In
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order to define the kinematic parameters, two reference systems have been defined, as shown in

Figure 1: for the lower base the origin of the reference system is located at the midpoint of the
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interface device-column, and similarly, for the upper base the origin of the reference system is located

at the midpoint of the interface device-RC slab.

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For each device, mounting laying defects have been defined according to Figure 2. Two rigid
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rotations βi and ψi are applied to identify the deviation from the parallel condition of the upper and

lower interface.
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In each analysis performed in the present study βi and ψi have been selected by using a random

numbers generator, based on a uniform distribution, in order to consider every time different

geometric conditions. Precisely, there are no available experimental measurements in scientific

literature for Mounting Laying Defects (MLD): general recommendations are provided from isolators

producers in terms of maximum inclination angle of sliding surfaces with respect to the horizontal

plan. For these reasons, since it is not possible to define the best distribution for installation defects, a

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“fixed-limits” distribution has been assumed, aiming at considering the same probability for all the

analyzed cases, by assuming a wide range of variation.

The vertical inclination βi has been extracted from the range (-1.5°;1.5°), whereas the orientation of

the sectional plane ψi has been considered in the range 0° and 360°. Aiming at considering the most

realistic simulation possible, values for mounting laying defects parameters have been extracted,

individually for each device, so that for a given analysis all the isolators are considered with different

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installation conditions.

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2.2 Hysteretic model

The model implemented to simulate the bi-directional horizontal response includes the effects of the

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restoring force (Fr) oriented toward the center of the reference system of the device and the frictional
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force (Ff), parallel to the trajectory of motion, as shown in Figure 3. In a bi-axial motion, Fr and Ff are

no longer parallel as occurs in the uniaxial case, thus vectors have to be composed to determine the
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resultant force.

The restoring force of the i-th device can be modeled by a linear spring as in the case of the
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unidirectional motion [Furinghetti et al., 2012, Fenz and Constantinou, 2006].

 ui   ui 
 2   2 2 
 Frxi  u + vi  Wi
2
u + vi  Wi ui 
Fri =   = Fri ⋅  i = ui2 + vi2 ⋅ i =
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 Req−i  vi 
(1)
F
 ryi   vi  Req−i  vi
 2 2   2 2 
 ui + vi   ui + vi 
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where:
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- Wi is the vertical load applied to the i-th isolator device

- Req-i is the i-th equivalent radius of curvature

- ui and vi are the i-th components along x and y directions respectively of the displacement

vector, which defines the relative positions of the upper sliding surface with respect the lower

one.

Since the frictional force is parallel to the trajectory and opposite to the direction of motion, it can be

expressed as a function of the directional cosines of the relative velocity between the sliding surfaces

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of the device [Furinghetti et al., 2012, Khoshnondian and Hadgonst, 2009]:

 ui 
  
 F fxi  cos ϑi   u + v   ui + vi 
2 2 2 2
F fi =   = F fi ⋅  = W μ tanh i i
⋅ (2)
 F fyi   sin ϑi
i i
 u s   vi 
   2 2
 ui + vi 

Where ui and vi are time derivatives of the translational degrees of freedom of the device, and u s is a

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parameter which provides a smoother transition of the frictional force through the zero velocity value,

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in comparison the commonly used sign function, which is discontinuous when the sliding velocity is

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null. The relation between the friction coefficient μ and the applied vertical load Wi has been assumed

according to the following equation [Furinghetti et al., 2012, Soong and Constantinou, 1994]:

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Wi
−
μ i = f min + ( f max − f min ) ⋅ e e
(3)
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In present study the parameters in equation (3) have been calibrated thanks to the experimental results

of a number of dynamic tests performed on full scale devices with the bearing tester facility at
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EUCENTRE TREES Lab in Pavia, Italy [Casarotti and Pavese, 2014]. Devices with similar

mechanical and geometrical properties have been considered: each one of them has been subjected to
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3 sinusoidal tests, and different percentages of the design vertical load value have been considered

(20%, 40% and 100%), in order to obtain a reliable definition of the curve friction vs vertical load.
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Black points in Figure 4 coincide with the vertical load applied during the test and the maximum
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Dynamic Friction Coefficient (D.F.C.) recorded at the peak velocity point of the sinusoidal trajectory:

for the whole devices population, a non-linear best fit procedure has been applied to define the curve
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friction-vertical load.

For each isolator included in the presented case study the parameters of the friction-vertical load curve

(eq. (3)) have been randomly extracted from the log-normal distribution curves shown in Figure 5.

In Figure 6 the mechanical model has been applied to the cloverleaf trajectory. It can be noted that the

vectorial composition of all the forces at all the underlined points leads to a highly non-linear

hysteretic loop for both x and y directions, with respect to the radial case.

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3. ANALYSIS OF THE ISOLATED SYSTEM

The bi-axial model of the isolator described above has been used to investigate the global response of

the structural system, for the evaluation of the influence of both laying defects and variability of the

frictional characteristics on the main response parameters.

3.1 Geometric and mechanical properties

The case study structure consists of a three storey RC building, laid on a RC slab, isolated with forty

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DCSS devices, as schematically shown in Figure 7. All devices have two sliding surfaces, with the

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same radius of curvature (2.0m) [Furinghetti et al., 2012, Pavese et al., 2011], and are mounted on the

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top of 40 columns, which are connected to the soil by means of a continuous foundation. The building

mass is approximately equal to 2000 tons, the stiffness and the viscous damping coefficient of the

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building have been computed considering the value of the first period, equal to 0.48 sec and a

damping ratio of 5%. The isolated slab is 0.5 m thick, and has a total mass equal to 1525 tons.
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3.2 Modelling of the structure

A simplified model of the structural system has been adopted to investigate the response under the
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seismic input, see Figure 8. The isolated slab has been assumed as a rigid diaphragm for in-plane

deformations, and Kirchhoff shell elements have been implemented for out-of-plane response: such a
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slab is laid on a grid of supports, which represents the isolators and its translational and rotational

masses, Mp Ip respectively, have been lumped at the geometrical centre CMp.

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Since a linear response is expected from the building, a single oscillator with a linear spring of
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equivalent stiffness has been adopted; the total mass Ms has been lumped at the top and the

connection to the slab is given at the position corresponding to the projection of centre of mass of the
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building CMs. A dashpot is placed in parallel to the spring, to account for the effects of the damping:

since a base isolated structure is expected to experience deformations in the elastic range, ductility

demands less than 1.0 are likely to occur. Thus, according to previous experimental assessments of

damping ratio for reinforced concrete members (Petrini et al. 2008), in the elastic range damping ratio

can be set equal to 5% (Chandak 2013). The effects of the overturning moments, pitch and roll,

developed during the building motion are equilibrated through the variation of the vertical load

applied at the actual building column locations, then transferred to each device by means of the

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deformation of the slab.

Non-linear dynamic analyses of the system both under mono and bi-axial inputs have been performed

through a customized FEM computer code implemented in a MATLAB routine [The MathWorks inc.,

2009]: thanks to this approach a better and faster post-processing of the response has been carried out,

by adopting several combination of friction curves and MLD distributions on the devices. A smoother

treatment of the boundaries condition variation at the interface device-slab (no traction permitted)

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during motion is also allowed, with respect to other traditional commercial software. Only horizontal

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dynamic equilibrium equations have been considered, for the evaluation of the seismic response of the

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considered structural system. Actually, Mounting Laying defects are likely to induce different vertical

displacements at each isolator location: this aspect causes the loss of contact between some isolators

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and the slab, which results into a modifications of boundary conditions of the slab itself. Furthermore,

vertical motion are consequently induced to the slab and the building. For Concave Surface Slider
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devices, the horizontal mechanical oscillation period is a direct function of the equivalent radius of

curvature of the devices considered, whereas the oscillation period along the vertical direction is half
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of the horizontal one. If an equivalent radius of curvature equal to 4m is considered, a horizontal

period equal to 4sec and a vertical period of 2sec can be computed: by assuming a maximum
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horizontal displacement (which is generally achieved in one or maximum two cycles under a real

earthquake) equal to 250mm, a vertical acceleration equal to 0.004g can be computed, which causes a
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limited vertical excitation to the structure: for these reasons, vertical motion of the structural system
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has been neglected, and only horizontal ground acceleration signals have been applied.

The horizontal displacements of each device, and their time derivatives, can be obtained at each time
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step as a function of the motion of the isolated slab.

Thus, the response of the building is calculated through a direct integration of the system of equations

of motion in x and y, by considering the absolute acceleration of the slab as external actions, as shown

in Figure 8 (right).

The final system of equations of motion of the isolated slab can be written as a function of its degrees

of freedom and their time derivatives, of the mass matrix of the slab, of the forces transmitted by the

8
building, of the ground accelerations for both directions ug and vg and of the horizontal forces due

to the hysteretic response of each isolator:

 N



 Fxi 

M p 0 
0 u   i =1
    N

 0 M p 0  v  +   Fyi  + ...
 0 0 I p α   N 
i =1
  (− F y + F x )
 xi i yi i  (4)
 i =1 

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  M p 0  ug 

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Vsx 0
    
... −  Vsy  = − 0 M p 0  vg 
 − V (y − y
CM , p ) + Vsy (xs − xCM , p )
  0 I p  0 

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 sx s  0

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Being Vsx and Vsy the base shear values of the building along x and y directions respectively. Whereas

for the building, only the translational degrees of freedom us and vs have been considered, by
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accounting for the same stiffness and damping coefficients in both directions:

M s 0   us   c x u s   k x u s  M 0  u + ug 

 0    +  +  = − s  
M s  v + vg 
(5)
  
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 M s   vs   c y vs   k y vs   0

The dynamic systems of motion are coupled, since the response of the slab is determined as a function
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of the base shear forces transmitted by the building, and the response of the building is related to the

absolute acceleration of the slab. The presented formulation provides a simple dynamic system of the
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structure, which can be easily integrated, by means of the procedure defined in the next paragraph.
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3.3 Nonlinear analysis of the isolated building

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Given the high nonlinearity of the system, an explicit time integration method has been implemented,

i.e. the Euler method, according to which all the derivatives are expressed with the difference

quotient, whereas all the other variables are referred to the previous time step. Such a method does not

provide the equilibrium stepwise [John, 2003], however, if the time step is small enough, values of the

residual forces sum are closer to zero mean value, with a reduced standard deviation.

At the beginning of each time step a compatibility check is performed at each isolator – slab contact

interface, to determine the correct boundary conditions. When the reaction force through the isolator-

9
slab interface becomes negative (tensile), the connection is removed, due to the detachment of the

isolator ; on the other hand, when the vertical displacement of detached device leads to a physical

interpenetration, the connection is restored. At each time step the stiffness matrix of the out-of-plane

response of the slab is accordingly updated and the vertical displacements or reactions at the

interfaces isolators-slab are calculated: the distributed self-weight of the slab, the gravity load of the

building transmitted through the columns and the axial force variation in the columns due to the

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overturning moments applied by the building oscillation have been considered as external loads of the

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slab.

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4. TIME HISTORY ANALYSES

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The seismic response of the system has been investigated, by using a set of seven accelerograms for

both uni-directional and bi-directional analyses: as described in the Italian Building code (DM
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January 14th 2008), compatibility in terms of displacement spectrum has been considered, by

assuming the L’Aquila hazard (Italy). The adopted procedure for the displacement spectrum
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compatibility of the selected seismic events has been considered as the best solution for the

assessment of base isolated structures, in comparison to the approach of the acceleration based
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selection, which may lead to very high dispersion of displacement demand values. Consequently,

displacement demand values for all the records will be more comparable, with low coefficients of
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variation, so that it is possible to evaluate all the response parameter variability at the same ultimate
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condition for the isolation devices.

To this end, the strong motion database of the software Rexel Disp (Iervolino et al., 2009) has been
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used. For the definition of the reference spectrum, the collapse limit state (5% of probability of

exceedance) has been assumed, with nominal life of the structure equal to 50 years, soil class C, a

plan ground surface (topographic category T1) and an ordinary typology of strategic importance

(functional type II), according to the Italian Building Code.

The spectrum compatibility has been achieved by means of a least-square procedure, which has

returned the optimal scaling factor for each record, aiming at fitting in the best way possible the target

spectrum in a period range between 0,15s and 1,2Tis (being Tis the equivalent period of the isolated

10
structure at the design displacement - NTC08). Moreover, in all cases the scaling factor has been

bounded between 0,5 and 2,0 in order not to obtain unrealistic ground acceleration time histories.

Thus, for the present work, the equivalent secant period of the isolated structure is assumed equal to

3.13s, which corresponds to a target displacement equal to 0,25m and an average dynamic friction

coefficient equal to 4%: this assumption implies that the upper bound of the spectrum compatibility

range is equal to 3,8s. For all the bidirectional events, an ad hoc response spectrum has been

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computed (Furinghetti and Pavese, 2017). Both the x and y component are considered as acting

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simultaneously at the base of a Single Degree of Freedom oscillator, which has the same period and

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damping ratio along both directions: hence, for all periods, the maximum value of the vectorial

displacement response has been computed. In addition to the spectrum compatibility, the

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disaggregation of the L’Aquila site has been checked with respect to the values of magnitude and

distance for both unidirectional and bidirectional events chosen for the analyses. In Figure 9 the
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response spectra and the disaggregation study for both the unidirectional and bidirectional selections

are shown. The figure shows that for all the records the spectral ordinates are considerably higher than
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the target spectrum for higher periods, whereas at very low periods they are more comparable. Since

the Italian Building Code (NTC08) rules the lower bound of the spectrum compatibility, without any
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definition of an upper bound, an amplified target spectrum has been considered in the least-squared

procedure, in order to get the best spectrum compatibility at lower periods.

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In Table 1 and Table 2 the main characteristics of selected radial and bidirectional seismic events are
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listed.

Three sets of structural layouts have been assumed, for the investigation of the role of both mounting
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laying defects and friction variability on the global response of system:

• SET 1 (VF): devices are perfectly laid (no mounting defects) but each one of them is

characterized by a specific frictional characteristic curves, represented by randomly extracted

parameters (Figure 5);

• SET 2 (MLD): devices are affected by randomly defined Mounting Laying Defects, (see par.

2.1 for details) but all of them are characterized by the same frictional curve, by assuming the

mean values of the parameters of eq. (3) (Figure 5);

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 • SET 3 (VF & MLD): both variations of SET 1 and SET 2 are considered at the same time.

Thus, for a single configuration, mounting laying defects and/or frictional properties are randomly

extracted individually for each isolator, so that all the devices are represented by different

characteristics.

For the unidirectional analysis, all the records shown before have been applied along the x and y

directions separately: special attention has been focused on the possible transverse and torsional

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response due to either variable friction or MLD or their combination.

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For the bi–directional analysis both the x and y components of the seismic events have been applied

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simultaneously. In all the analyses the aleatory parameters have been taken into account, according to

the corresponding distribution, in order to consider several situations.

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Thus, 100 configurations, for 3 case studies, by assuming 7 seismic events and considering both radial

(x and y) and bidirectional (xy) motions have been analyzed, for a total number of non-linear time
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history analyses equal to 6300. The distribution parameters (mean value and c.o.v.) of different

structural response parameters have been monitored, by increasing the number of samples, in order to
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detect the minimum number of configurations which leads to an asymptotic value for both mean and

c.o.v. values. This analysis has shown that at least 80 configurations should be considered for the
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presented investigations: hence 100 samples for each seismic event and for each case are expected to

be enough to provide a good statistical representation of all the considered response parameters.
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4.1 Uni–directional analyses

Results of the uniaxial analyses are presented in the following in terms of displacements,
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accelerations, base shear, detachments and vertical reactions for each set of device properties and each

accelerogram adopted in the numerical study. In Figure 10a the displacement peaks of centre of mass

of the slab obtained from each accelerogram are given, for the x direction of motion: each histogram

shows results of four considered mechanical layouts (VF, MLD, VF&MLD and reference case) and

each column represents the mean value (left) and the coefficients of variation (right) calculated over

100 random extractions of the involved parameters, together with the c.o.v. obtained from all the

seven events for all the considered cases. Displacements and rotation peaks are almost identical to the

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reference case response for each considered earthquakes but dispersion is much lower in x direction,

being the coefficient of variation limited to 2%; on the other hand, for displacements along y direction

and the yaw rotation the c.o.v. overtakes 50%: probably this is a direct consequence of the limited

range of variation of such degrees of freedom.

When earthquakes are applied in y direction, Figure 10b, the mean response in y direction does not

depend upon the mechanical layout and dispersion is very limited, whereas x displacement and

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rotation are more influenced from the friction variation and the dispersion overtakes again 50% as in

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the previous case. The yaw rotation of the isolated slab has reached higher values (about three times

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the ones of the x direction case), and increased coefficients of variation (in the range between 50%

and 80%): this can be likely due to the large spatial development of the structural system (isolators

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have higher values of lever arms). Obviously, the reference case has a zero value of yaw rotation,

since there is no misalignment between the centre of mass of the building with respect to the centre of
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mass of the isolated slab, for the considered direction of motion.

In Figure 11a results of the analyses performed in x direction are presented (mean on the left side
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c.o.v. on the right) in terms of base shear (x and y direction) and dissipated energy for each selected

accelerogram and set of mechanical conditions. Variations are limited to 1% for the x-base shear, 50%
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for the y-base shear and less than 2% for the dissipated energy). Same results are presented in Figure

11b, for the analyses performed in y direction, where variations are significantly higher with respect
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the previous case, due to the higher influence of the rigid rotation. In both cases a limited number of
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contemporaneous detached devices has been observed as shown in Figure 12a and Figure 12b, for

both the directions of motion: averagely, 4 devices (plus/minus 2) can been found detached during
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motion.

Figure 13 shows residual displacements for x (top) and y (bottom) directions of motion. As can be

noted, given the high displacement demand for all the seismic events, residual displacements are low,

and achieve up to 10% of the maximum displacement for event 4. Furthermore, as expected, mean

values of residual displacements along x direction are approximately the same of the ones returned by

considering y direction of motion, even though slightly larger coefficients of variation can be found.

In Figure 14 (left) the average range of variation of the vertical reactions through the isolators are

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given for x direction. It can be noticed that the variation of the vertical reactions in the first case (only

variable friction) is negligible: in that case such a variation is due to the effects of pitch and roll

overturning moments transmitted by the building to the slab, which lead to very small deviation of the

axial load in comparison with the static case. In the other two cases the behaviour is almost the same,

and shows a significant variability of the vertical reactions, with respect to the static values; as

expected, the minimum value is zero for all the isolators, which corresponds to the detachment of the

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devices.

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Same variability of the vertical reactions directly affects the range of the dynamic friction coefficient

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for all the isolators (Figure 14 (right)): such a range becomes wider when the mounting laying defects

are considered, due to the high variability of the vertical reactions. Moreover, it can be noted that the

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mean value moves toward the lower bound of the dynamic friction coefficients when MLD are

considered, just because the vertical reactions often experience much higher values, compared to the
an
static ones, due to the redistribution of the vertical loads among the isolators still in contact.

Finally, it can be observed that, considering only MLD, the range of variation of the dynamic friction
M

coefficient is almost constant for all the isolators, because only mean frictional curve is assumed for

all the devices and a wide range of vertical loads is covered. In the third case ranges are more
ed

irregular, because of the investigation of the variability of the frictional characteristics. Same

behaviours have been observed with the y direction of motion.

pt

In Figure 15 the bending moment values (Mxx and Myy) at the maximum displacement are shown, at
ce

the location of each isolator, for x direction. If only VF is considered, there is no variation of the

values with respect to the reference case, because of the small building-slab dynamic interaction. In
Ac

the remaining two cases (MLD and VF&MLD) the dispersion of the moments increases in both

directions, due to the detachments of some devices, which can cause opposite signs (i.e., the bottom

fibres of the slab become in tension).

Same aspects have been detected, by considering the y direction of motion.

4.2 Bi–directional analyses

In Figure 16 the trajectory of the centre of mass of the slab is shown for all the seismic events,

relatively to the reference case, characterized by no MLD and constant frictional properties.

14
It can be noted that trajectories are very irregular, thus the global behaviour is expected to be different

from the radial one, since the bi–directional motion significantly modifies the hysteretic rule of the

device.

Results are summarized in Figure 17, in terms of slab displacements of all the analyses .

As well as in the uni – directional case, the smallest dispersion of results occurs in the second group

of analyses, i.e. the one performed by considering MLD only. Under bi–directional motion,

t
displacements along both directions are comparable, together with the relative coefficient of variation,

ip
whereas the slab rotation assumes higher values (averagely equal to 4·10-4 rads), with high c.o.v. (in

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the worst scenario the maximum value was about 1.6·10-3 rads, which could cause an additional

displacement in y direction of 4.32 cm for the external isolator, due to the large plan development of

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the whole structural system).

In Figure 18 the results in terms of base shear along both directions and dissipated energy are shown.
an
As in the uni–directional case, the variability for the base shears in both the directions and for the

dissipated energy is not relevant: particularly, the highest values of the c.o.v. occurs when the variable
M

friction is considered (with or without the mounting laying defects).

For what concerns detachments of isolators (Figure 19), due to the optimized compatibility with
ed

respect to the displacement spectrum at L’Aquila, the average number and the standard deviation of

detached devices during each event are similar.

pt

Ranges of vertical reactions and dynamic friction coefficients (Figure 20) and bending moments
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(Figure 21) are similar to the ones obtained in the uni – directional case.

Residual displacements for bidirectional motions are reported along both x and y directions in Figure
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22: similarly to what observed for radial motions, mean values along both directions of motions reach

up to 10% of the maximum vectorial displacement and large coefficients of variation can be noticed,

especially when variable frictional properties are considered.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The present work is the development of a previous study in which the response of a structural system

isolated with a grid of CSS devices has been analysed. In the current endeavour, a new 3-D model of

the DCSS device has been defined, by accounting for the bi-directional response of the isolators

15
subjected to non-radial motion: the wide variability of the frictional characteristics of each isolator has

been considered, thanks to results of laboratory tests performed in the EUCENTRE TREES Lab

(Pavia); furthermore possible mounting laying defects of the devices have been directly modelled. In

particular, the behaviour of the system subjected to a generic bi-directional motion has been studied,

with the scope of evaluating the effects of both variable friction and mounting laying defects on the

global response of the system. The attention has been focused on the torsional rotation of the isolated

t
slab, which can cause an increasing displacement demand at the local level, on the global base shear

ip
in both the main directions, and on the maximum number of devices contemporary detached and

cr
residual displacements at the end of the seismic events.

Results have shown that MLDs affect the response at high displacement values, and very small

us
uncertainties on the global parameters have been detected (i.e. slab displacements, base shears, ...).

Whereas, when VF is considered, uncertainties significantly increase, and become even more relevant
an
with MLD. Concerning slab rotation, it assumes high values in the uni–directional case with VF and

MLD, when the motion is applied along the direction perpendicular to the longest plan size of the
M

system. Also in the bi–directional motion the slab rotation can not be neglected. Vertical reactions

applied to the devices are very disperse when MLD are simulated, because of the redistribution of the
ed

vertical loads on the isolators still in contact; on the other hand constant trends can be found, by

considering only the VF, mainly because the vertical component of the earthquakes has not been
pt

accounted for and no vertical dynamic motion due to the isolator vertical deformation has been
ce

analyzed: thus, the variation of vertical forces applied to the devices comes from the building–slab

interaction only, i.e. the distribution of the OTM among the columns; due to the large plane
Ac

development of the system, the OTM leads to very small axial load variations in the columns.

Residual displacements have been computed for both radial and bidirectional events: variable

frictional properties lead to higher dispersions, in terms of coefficient of variation value, whereas

mean values are approximately the same for all the simulated cases; residual displacements up to 10%

of the maximum displacement were noticed.

The next developments of the present work could be the definition of a more accurate model of the

structural system (e.g. MDOF for the building), by accounting for the vertical component of the

16
seismic event, in order to quantify the effect of such a component on the lateral response of the

system. Moreover, the study will be extended to different structural schemes, aiming at generalizing

the results for a larger class of buildings: hence, different spatial distributions of the building will be

considered, together with different mass locations, in order to quantify the consequent changing in the

slab rotation.

t
AKNOLEDGEMENTS

ip
Part of the current work has been carried out under the financial support of the Italian Civil Protection, within

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the framework of the Executive Project 2014–2016 (Project S2.0 – Seismic isolation and supplemental damping

systems: evaluation of the seismic response of devices and structures).

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an
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19
 Table 1. Characteristics of the selected radial earthquakes

Earthquake Fault Epicentral Scale Scaled

Station ID Date Mw
Name Mechanism Distance (km) Factor PGA (g)
Hyogo - Ken
JMA(x) 1995_January_16 6.9 strike-slip 16.6 1.110 0.70
Nanbu
AI_010_BOL(y) Duzce 1999_November_12 7.1 strike-slip 36.1 1.370 1.03
AI_137_DIN(x) Dinar 1995_October_01 6.4 normal 0.47 1.490 0.49
AEP(x) Imperial Valley 1979_October_15 6.5 strike-slip 2.31 1.650 0.54
EMO(y) Imperial Valley 1979_October_15 6.5 strike-slip 19.33 0.941 0.30
ERZ(x) Erzincan 1992_March_13 6.6 strike-slip 8.97 0.949 0.47

t
ERZ(y) Erzincan 1992_March_13 6.6 strike-slip 8.97 0.597 0.31

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ed
pt
ce
Ac

20
 Table 2. Characteristics of the selected bidirectional earthquakes

Earthquake Fault Epicentral Scale Scaled

Station ID Date Mw
Name Mechanism Distance (km) Factor PGA (g)

FKO006 NW Off Kyushu 2005_March_20 6.6 strike-slip 25.96 1.180 0.34

Hyogo - Ken
JMA 1995_January_16 6.9 strike-slip 16.6 0.796 0.69
Nanbu
AI_010_BOL Duzce 1999_November_12 7.1 strike-slip 36.1 1.160 1.06
AI_137_DIN Dinar 1995_October_01 6.4 normal 0.47 1.370 0.37
AEP Imperial Valley 1979_October_15 6.5 strike-slip 2.31 1.560 0.64

t
EC04 Imperial Valley 1979_October_15 6.5 strike-slip 27.03 0.618 0.32

ip
ERZ Erzincan 1992_March_13 6.6 strike-slip 8.97 0.552 0.34

cr
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an
M
ed
pt
ce
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21