SEISMIC ISOLATION ENGINEERING

The concept of base isolation as an innovative means of creating earthquake-resistant structural systems was met initially with a great deal of skepticism by the engineering community. Today, however, it is on the cutting edge of seismic resistance engineering, as evidenced by the rapidly increasing number of buildings, both for new construction and retrofit, using this technique. It is now generally accepted that a base-isolated building will perform better than a conventional fixedbase building in moderate or strong earthquakes. In the structures in which it has been used to date, the major benefits has been to reduce the effects of seismic forces on contents and internal equipment, more than justifying the increased cost of isolated construction. This review will mainly cover the development and application of base isolation to buildings.