RESPONSE OF BASE ISOLATED BUILDINGS TO RANDOM GROUND MOTION

Effect of base isolation on the response of buildings under seismic excitation is investigated with the help of a ۲-D idealized model. Force deformation characteristic of the base isolator is assumed to follow an empirical equation suggested by Wen. The parameters of the equation can be adjusted to obtain various types of models. Further, it is assumed that isolator provide some viscous damping. The response of the system is obtained for both harmonic and random ground motion. The mean peak regponses obtained for both types of ground motion for base isolated model are compared with those for fixed base model in order to find out the effectiveness of base isolation. The study is carried out for a set of important parametric variations in order to highlight the influence of different important parameters of base isolation