Abstract:
An earthquake is one of the most terrifying natural disasters that humans cannot control but
use of proper technology can minimize its effect. Base isolation is one of the most widely
implemented and well-known technique to reduce structural vibration and damages during an
earthquake. This study proposes the use of SMA wires for the reduction in base drift while
controlling the overall structure vibrations. The structure presented is a multi-degree of
freedom (MDOF) structure along with base isolators and SMA wires in diagonal. Shape
Memory Alloys (SMAs) are a new generation of smart materials with the capability of
recovering their pre-defined shape after experiencing a large strain. The isolation bearing
considered in this study consists of laminates of steel and silicon rubber. The performance of
the proposed structure is evaluated and studied under different excitations including harmonic
loading and seismic excitation. To assess the seismic performance of the proposed structure,
shake table tests are conducted on base isolated MDOF frame structure incorporating SMA
wires, which is subjected to incremental harmonic and historic seismic loadings. Root mean
square acceleration, displacement and drift are analyzed and discussed in detail for each story.
To better understand the structure response, percentage reduction of displacement is also
determined for each story. The result shows that the reduction in the response of proposed
structure is much better than conventional base isolated structure
