Seismic Isolation – Usage of seismic base isolation to reduce the ductility demand for concrete elements

This master thesis describes the concept of seismic isolation, and its effect on the behavior of reinforced concrete structures under the influence of seismic action. The purpose of using seismic isolation is to consume some of the energy introduced and reduce the demand for energy dissipation within structural elements. The study of this phenomenon was done by addressing its basic purpose and methods of analysis. To present the effectiveness of base isolation on controlling deformations in reinforced concrete structures, a typical multi-story structure is modeled with and without seismic isolation, analyzing their dynamic behavior with computer simulations. The obtained results are presented graphically and tabularly, including the respective displacements, pseudo-relative accelerations and relative inter-story drifts for both, as well as the rotational moments presented in all plastic hinges and their comparison between the two models together with EC-8 requirements