ABSTRACT
Abstract Recently, an increasing tendency can be noticed in the use of steel-laminated rubber bearings for the isolation of structures against dynamic and seismic loads. New requirements have arisen like damping capabilities or large horizontal displacements. In addition to aptitude tests on the rubber material and investigations concerning metalrubber bond, extensive experimental research is necessary concerning earthquake loading. Here, the size of the bearings tested should be as large as possible. Results from static and dynamic investigations on rubber bearings used to isolate a large LNG storage tank in Greece are presented. The behaviour of bearings is simulated numerically using the Finite Element code ABAQUS. Keywords: Rubber bearings, sesmic isolation, dynamic loads, earthquake loading, numerical simulation.
