Ricerc@Sapienza

During strong earthquakes, structural pounding may occur between structures and the surrounding moat wall because of the limited separation distance and the deformations of the isolator. An arrangement that favours the solution of this problem is the interposition of bumpers. Thus, the influence of geometrical and mechanical characteristics of isolation and mitigation devices on nonlinear non-smooth response of vibro-impact systems is experimentally and numerically investigated in this paper on the basis of a laboratory campaign of experimental tests and a numerical model.

During strong earthquakes, structural pounding may occur between structures (buildings, bridges, strategic facilities, critical equipment, etc.) and the surrounding moat wall because of the limited separation distance and the deformations of the isolator. An arrangement that favors the solution of this problem is the interposition of shock absorbers.