Effectiveness of several low-cost geotechnical seismic isolation methods: a shake-table study

This paper presents the findings of an experimental investigation of the efficiency of several low-cost frictional geotechnical seismic isolation methods on a rigid building model. A total of eleven different aseismic layers were considered. One layer was made of stone pebbles only, whereas the remaining ten layers were composites containing combinations of stone pebbles with different types and positions of “sliding” elements/materials (geogrid, geomembrane, and limestone sand layers). All the samples were exposed to four earthquake accelerograms of different durations and predominant periods, with three levels of peak ground acceleration (PGA): 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 g. The test results confirm that the composite aseismic layers can significantly reduce the inertial/earthquake forces of the rigid building model relative to the stone pebble layer, depending on the type of earthquake and PGA. The need for further research on this issue on real building models is highlighted.