Experimental and numerical simulation study on mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced plastic seismic isolator

• Published in: Engineering structures Vol. 275; p. 115108
• Main Authors: Wang, Hao, Mu, Haoran, Guo, Xiaoxia, Zhang, Yunfei, Ji, Haowei, Luo, Chao, Feng, Huaiping, Liu, Donglin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15-01-2023
• Subjects: FRP seismic isolator; Isolator’s stress distributions; Low-cost isolator; Mechanical property tests; Mechanical property tests; Low-cost isolator; Isolator’s stress distributions; FRP seismic isolator
• ISSN: 0141-0296; 1873-7323
• DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.115108

•Developed a new type of fiber-reinforced seismic isolator with low cost and high-performance features.•Tensile and bending performance tests were conducted on the fiber-reinforced plastic plates.•Evaluated FRP seismic isolators’ mechanical properties, including the vertical compressive performance, horizontal shear performance, ultimate performance, shear strain correlation, compressive stress correlation and loading frequency correlation by mechanical properties tests.•Studied the distributions of horizontal normal stress, vertical normal stress and interfacial shear stress in the isolator by numerical analysis.•Studied the effects of changing the plane size of the FRP seismic isolator and the plate/rubber thickness ratio on the isolator’s performance.
Seismic isolators are widely used in the field of seismic mitigation. But the disadvantage of the high cost limits the promotion of seismic isolators in underdeveloped areas. Therefore, the development of a new type of low-cost seismic isolator will facilitate the application of seismic isolation technology. This paper proposes a fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) seismic isolator with cost-effective and stable mechanical performance features, which uses a synthetic material of alkali-free fabrics and vinyl resin instead of the steel plate in the traditional laminated isolator. The design and manufacturing process of the bearing makes it have higher stability and integrity than the traditional bearing. A series of mechanical properties tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical behavior of the FRP seismic isolator and to determine the boundary properties of the FRP seismic isolator. The stress distributions inside the FRP seismic isolator are analyzed detailly by the finite element model. The effects of changing the plane size of the FRP seismic isolator and the plate/rubber thickness ratio (P/RTR) on the isolator performance were studied to provide technical support for the subsequent design and manufacture of FRP seismic isolators. The experimental and numerical analyses show that the FRP seismic isolators developed in this paper have good performance and are beneficial for application in low-rise building structures.