Study on a conical bearing for acceleration-sensitive equipment

Seismic isolation effectively reduces seismic demands on building structures by isolating the superstructure from ground vibrations during earthquakes. However, isolation strategies give less attention to acceleration-sensitive systems or equipment. Meanwhile, as the isolation layer’s displacement grows, the stiffness and frequency of traditional rolling and sliding isolation bearings increases, potentially causing self-centering and resonance concerns. As a result, a new conical pendulum bearing has been selected for acceleration-sensitive equipment to increase self-centering capacity, and additional viscous dampers are incorporated to enhance system damping. Moreover, the theoretical formula for conical pendulum bearings is supplied to analyze the device’s dynamic parameters, and shake table experiments are used to determine the proposed device’s isolation efficiency under various conditions. According to the test results, the newly proposed devices have remarkable isolation performance in terms of minimizing both acceleration and displacement responses. Finally, a numerical model of the isolation system is provided for further research, and the accuracy is demonstrated by the aforementioned experiments.