ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: High damping rubber bearings HDRB are frequently used to isolate structures at major earthquakes. However, at lower displacement amplitudes related to more frequent weaker earthquakes the stiffness of HDRB is larger, jeopardizing the isolation effect. Of special concern is possible damage of sensitive equipment at earthquakes with short return period. To overcome this problem HDRB using magnetically controlled elastomers to provide uniform stiffness over the entire range of possible displacementswere proposed. Based on the parametric study of the inelastic response of standard HDRB presented in the form of storey spectra the range of applicability of the proposed devices was investigated.
