EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON HEAT-MECHANICS INTERACTION BEHAVIOR OF LAMINATED RUBBER BEARINGS

Abstract

This paper describes the experimental study on heat-mechanics interaction behavior of laminated rubber bearings, such as lead rubber bearings (LRB) and high damping rubber bearings (HDB) under larger and more cyclic lateral deformation. For the rubber bearings installed to the base-isolated structures, the seismic energy they absorb is transformed into the thermal energy, so heat is generated causing high temperatures in the lead plug and high damping rubber. There are few experimental data so far, especially using full-scale specimen for heat-mechanics interaction behavior. Dynamic loading tests were conducted using full-scale and reduced-scale rubber bearing specimens under the sinusoidal and the earthquake response displacement inputs to confirm the effects of damping characteristics in line with the rising temperatures. The results of the tests show that the damping characteristics of the rubber bearings were deteriorated under the influence of the temperature rise and the similarity low is approved for the different size of rubber bearings.