ABSTRACT
In response to the constant challenge of fi nding new and better means of protecting new and existing structures against the devastating effects of earthquakes, a number of innovative systems and devices have been suggested over the past four decades. Among these innovative systems, base isolation has been implemented in a large number of buildings, bridges, nuclear power plants, and other structures, and it seems, thus, that it has had a wide acceptance (see Section 1.5). In turn, this acceptability has made base isolation a viable structural system in the toolbox of the structural engineer.
