Seismic performance and design approach for friction dissipative foundations
The seismic actions transmitted to a structure can be limited by inserting a frictional system between the foundation and the underlying soil. This allows a controlled sliding when the seismic forces reach a given critical value, that should be chosen to provide a desired seismic performance of the structure. Although this type of dissipative foundation has recently been adopted for the towers of two long-span bridges (the Rion Antirion and the Izmit Bay bridges), its design still requires the development of a clear and robust design approach.