Modeling of Rubber and Lead Passive-Control Bearings for Seismic Analysis

Abstract

A finite-element model is presented for rubber, steel and lead devices for seismic isolation and energy dissipation applications. A large displacement/large strain formulation is proposed for rubber materials considering a consistent penalty approach with gradually decreasing compressibility. Two stress-point plasticity algorithms are adopted to simulate the behavior of lead and steel materials. A practical idealization for passive control bearings is introduced based on a priori analytical and/or experimental information. The proposed procedure is verified against experimental results. The model is implemented for seismic energy dissipation of cable-stayed bridges.