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Sponsored by ASCE Continuing Education and the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI).

INSTRUCTOR: Armin Masroor, Ph.D., S.E., P.E.

Purpose and Background

Seismic isolation offers a simple and direct opportunity to control or even eliminate damage by simultaneously reducing the deformations and accelerations experienced by a building due to earthquake ground shaking; however, the adoption of isolation to protect buildings in seismic regions of the world is not uniform. There are thousands of seismically isolated buildings in Japan, while the number in the U.S. remains around one hundred. The relative popularity in Japan is a consequence of both public awareness of the benefit (in terms of reduction of damage) and a simplified approval processes. Isolation technology is rarely used in the U.S. except for essential public buildings, such as hospitals, city halls, emergency response centers, and critical infrastructure (e.g. major bridges). It has not spread to use in typical office or residential buildings despite the increased safety and performance benefits. This webinar reviews the benefits of base isolation system for engineers and explain the design process, code requirements and comparison with other seismic lateral systems. 

Primary Discussion Topics

• Basic principles of seismic base isolation systems
• Reviewing performance of base isolated buildings in recent strong ground motions
• Methods of analysis of seismically isolated buildings 
• Different isolations systems and their mechanical properties
• Code requirements and best practice methods
• Step by step design procedure with examples

Learning Outcomes

• Understand basic principles of seismic isolation systems
• Increase awareness about higher performance of base isolated buildings in recent earthquakes
• Describe code requirements to design base isolated structures
• Recognize different analyses methods for base isolated buildings
• Discuss simple calculation methods to investigate feasibility of base isolation system at early design stage
• Describe various base isolation devices and their mechanical properties  

Webinar Benefits

• Understand the basic principles of seismic isolation systems
• Recognize mechanical properties of various seismic isolation devices
• Discuss code requirements to design base isolated structure
• Describe different analysis methods to design a base isolated structure 

Intended Audience

• Structural and geotechnical engineers

Webinar Outline

• Introduction to strengthening and demand reduction seismic design methods
• Basic principles of seismic base isolation systems
• Reviewing performance of base isolated buildings in recent strong ground motions
• Different isolation systems and their mechanical properties
• Elastomeric bearings
• Lead rubber bearing
• Sliding bearings
• Method of analysis of seismically isolated buildings 
• Equivalent lateral force procedure
• Response spectrum analysis
• Response history analysis
• Code requirements and best practice methods (ASCE 7-16)
• Step by step design procedure with examples
• Summary and conclusion 

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