Evaluation and Classification of Experimental Test Data for Friction Pendulum Devices

The theoretical behavior and modeling of seismic isolation devices are based on the evaluation of experimental tests results. Base isolation devices’ manufacturers can estimate the behavior and performance of their products depending on these evaluations. Experimental tests may be either small-scale material or model tests, or full-scale dynamic prototype tests. This report focuses on the evaluation of more than 25000 test data from full-scale dynamic prototype and small-scale quasi-static material tests. The test data is obtained from the database of TIS Technologic Isolation Systems (TIS). The data includes the results of dynamic tests performed on more than 300 double surface friction pendulum prototypes (curved surface sliders), and small-scale quasi-static material tests applied on TIS’ special sliding material. The behavior of friction pendulum devices mainly depends on the frictional characteristics of sliding surfaces. Hence, it is essential to categorize and quantify the factors that affect their friction behavior. The test data evaluated and presented in this report considers a vertical load in the range 100–60000 kN, environmental temperatures ranging between 6 and 34 ℃, sliding velocities in the range 0.1–1500 mm/sec, displacements up to ± 1000 mm, and oscillation periods between 2.55–5.92 s for a large variety of double surface friction pendulum devices. This database is being assessed to evaluate the impact of different parameters on the performance of friction pendulum type base isolation devices in a more sophisticated manner.