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Study on dynamic and mechanical characteristics of carbon fiber- and polyamide fiber-reinforced seismic isolators

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Abstract

Seismic isolators are used to decrease the energy and forces of earthquakes. The weight of conventional steel-reinforced elastomeric isolators (SREIs) is high, mostly due to the use of multiple steel shim plates. On the contrary, the damping ratio of SREIs is relatively low. Accordingly, this research utilizes a new approach in which the steel shim plates are replaced by carbon and polyamide fibers. This study attempts to obtain the dynamic and mechanical properties of such carbon fiber- and polyamide fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolators, in comparison with SREIs. In this work, a number of specimens were initially designed and manufactured. Afterwards, compression and cyclic shear tests were performed on them. In the shear tests, due to the limitations of the testing machine, a constant vertical load was not applied. All three types of isolator specimen were cylindrical, with identical diameter and height. The steel-, carbon fiber-, and polyamide fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolator specimens had 16, 23, and 23 reinforcement layers, respectively. To decrease the effect of manufacturing errors on the dynamic and mechanical characteristics of the specimens, 6 samples of each isolator type were manufactured, i.e., a total of 18 samples. The outcome of the experiments revealed that the use of flexible reinforcement resulted in a damping increase of up to 20 and 30 % for the carbon fiber- and polyamide fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolators, respectively. Furthermore, the carbon fiber design provides more reasonable performance for the isolators compared with the use of polyamide fiber.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by the Civil Engineering Department of Sharif University of Technology and Shayan Polymer Engineering Company.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O.Box 11155-9313, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Bakhshi

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hosein Jafari

  3. Shayan Polymer Company, Tehran, Iran

    Vahid Valadoust Tabrizi

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  1. Ali Bakhshi
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  2. Mohammad Hosein Jafari
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  3. Vahid Valadoust Tabrizi
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Correspondence to Ali Bakhshi.

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Bakhshi, A., Jafari, M.H. & Valadoust Tabrizi, V. Study on dynamic and mechanical characteristics of carbon fiber- and polyamide fiber-reinforced seismic isolators. Mater Struct 47, 447–457 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0071-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0071-z

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