Base Isolation as a Solution for Protecting the Laboratory Buildings and Equipment: A Case Study from Novi Sad, Serbia

As technology of base isolation is getting more popular, it also widens the fields of its application. It is logical to apply base isolation for very important structures (hospitals, schools, theatres, etc.), but it also becomes as a good solution for safety of buildings, and also people and content inside the structures with different fields of use. In that sense, use of base isolation in research centres, laboratories and institutes becomes more common. In the north of Serbia, in Novi Sad, a state-of-the-art research building is being built for the BioSense Institute with financial support from the European Union. The part of the building with laboratories is provided with base isolation with integrated structure-borne noise insulation to protect and ensure smooth operation of the highly sensitive and capital-intensive technical installations. In addition, the decoupled laboratory module of the research building is provided with BIM-based building monitoring in order to be able to query and assess changes in the condition of the building at any time. This paper described the design and steps of installation of base isolators. Furthermore, results of on-site measurements (before, during and after construction) are presented. Sliding isolation pendulum (SIP) isolators incorporating polyurethane plate are presented as a one-package solution for both seismic and vibration isolation. Main characteristics of the system are presented. Its ease of installation and effectiveness of such a system presents big potential for the use in practice for different cases in practice (theatres, metro stations, hospitals etc.).