SUMMARY In this study, shaking‐table experiments were conducted with a novel seismic isolation system (Geotechnical Seismic Isolation, GSI) to validate its dynamic performance during earthquakes. This isolation technique uses shredded rubber–soil mixtures to reduce the structural response to earthquakes, and thus may not only provide economical structural safety for buildings in less‐developed regions, but could also consume a large amount of waste tires worldwide. The present experimental results show that the GSI system has potential to significantly mitigate seismic hazards. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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In order to investigate the influence of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the dynamic characteristics of buildings, a series of free-vibration experiments were performed on a 1/4-scale steel-frame structure. The structural fixed-base fundamental period was for the first time determined by experiments as to avoid evaluation errors in the conventional SSI analyses, and its numerical counterpart obtained by using SAP2000 Ò was also given for comparison. A total of 34 scenarios, which varied with regard to overall stiffness and mass of the structure, were examined in the experiments and the numerical simulations. In each experimental scenario, the fundamental period of the structure was determined under fixed-base and flexible-base conditions. A newly proposed method by Luco using Dunkerley's formula to evaluate the lower bounds for structural natural frequencies considering SSI was validated by both experimental and numerical results. This method was found to exhibit excellent accuracy in predicting the fundamental period of the structure with SSI. This experimentally verified formula, having a broader application potential than the Jennings and Bielak and Veletsos and Meek expressions, could apply to a variety of researching areas in earthquake engineering and would be a useful reference for future seismic code revisions in assessing the basic period of the structure with SSI.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

SUMMARYThis work introduces an innovative seismic isolation system named the convex friction system (CFS). This newly introduced isolation system has a sliding concavity with a circular cone-type surface, and exhibits some distinct features compared to conventional isolation techniques, such as increased uplift stability, improved self-centring capacity, and resonance dodge when subjected to near-fault earthquakes. A series of comprehensive analytical and numerical investigations are performed to verify these features of the CFS. First, the force-displacement relation of the CFS is established to describe the underlying philosophy of the system. The analytical model is then incorporated into numerical simulations to evaluate the seismic isolation performance of the CFS. Various ground accelerations, such as near-fault shakings, are included in these numerical calculations. Furthermore, the numerical results are rigorously investigated to illustrate the feasibility of the CFS. Finally, the limitations of the CFS study are discussed, and conclusions are drawn. The analytical and numerical results show that the CFS performs well in seismic isolation applications. The structural response can be reduced by approximately 30% with the CFS when compared to that with the Curved Surface Slider (CSS) with a spherical-surface concavity for some near-fault earthquakes, which verifies the aforementioned advantages of the CFS.

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