Ultimate State Performances Experimental Studies of Large Tonnage Friction Pendulum Bearing

Limited by the capability of testing machine, the experimental results of large tonnage friction pendulum bearing under ultimate states are insufficient, such as performances under twice of the design compressive stress or under high-speed shearing rate, etc. Therefore, to ensure adequate safety margin, the limited design axial force is always low. And the high-speed shearing performances of the friction pendulum bearing rely on theoretical analysis only due to lack of actual test results as evidence. In order to demonstrate the ultimate state performances of the large tonnage friction pendulum bearing, a 40 MN design capacity’s friction pendulum bearing was performed on the 100 MN compression-shearing testing machine at Guangzhou University, which is the maximum testing machine in China. The compression performances are tested under 40 MN (design force) and 80 MN (double design force) as vertical force. The compression curves are regular and no any cracks or damages observed after testing. The horizontal performances are tested at 150 mm/s, 500 mm/s and 1000 mm/s as shearing speed, all the hysteresis curves were full and no any damages observed. These test results under ultimate states provide sufficient confidence for the engineering application.