Periodic material-based passive control systems for engineering structures

Abstract

A new type of passive seismic control system was developed and experimentally validated. The new control system, known as periodic foundations, is inspired by the concept of phononic crystals that can block incoming waves having frequencies located within the frequency band gaps. This paper presents the development of one-dimensional (1D) periodic foundations from basic theory to actual tests. The ability of 1D periodic foundations to isolate engineering structures from the incoming waves was investigated through large-scale shake table tests. The test results demonstrated that a 1D periodic foundation can reduce the acceleration response on the superstructure by 90% compared to the input acceleration without generating large relative displacement at the isolator layer as conventional base isolation systems do. Moreover, finite element analysis was conducted and reproduced the test results. The research has proven that periodic foundations are very promising to be used as the next generation of seismic control systems. ? 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.