EQUIDAS in San Diego for the 14th Conf on Seismic Isolation
We participate in 14th Conference on Seismic Isolation, Energy Dissipation and Active Vibration Control of Structures (14WCSI) at the University of California San Diego. Two of our staff members co-authored a paper entitled "Dynamic behavior of the seismically isolated SNF Cultural Center in Athens". The presentation of the paper took place during the first day of the Conference.
The paper refers to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Cultural Center which, when complete in 2016, will house the National Opera and National Library of Greece. The structural design had to accommodate demanding architectural requirements as well as high performance seismic specifications. The latter included significantly higher seismic actions than those prescribed by basic Eurocode provisions, as well as a requirement to protect the valuable contents of the library during an ultimate limit state earthquake.
In order to fulfill these needs a seismic isolation system was incorporated, using 323 friction pendulum type isolators (SIP), placed at a uniform level beneath the ground floor slab. Soil-structure interaction effects also had to be considered due to poor silty sands that bordered on liquefiable.
Key features of the design, site constraints and design parameters, as well as the choice of seismic isolation technique, are presented. The paper then focuses on the methodology for the seismic design which was performed in three stages using 3D finite element models, including: a) simple analyses using single-degree of freedom model – for initial scheming, b) dynamic response spectrum analyses – for detailed design and c) non-linear time history analyses using selected earthquake records – for verification of non-linear effects. The results demonstrate good correlation between different analysis techniques and provide a valuable insight into the behavior of two complex, seismically isolated structures under seismic loads.
You may download the full paper from: www.equidas.com/publications.