Aspects of Isolation Device Behavior Observed from Full-Scale Testing of an Isolated Building at E-Defense

A 5-story steel moment frame building was tested at E-Defense in August of 2011 with three different support configurations: supported by a triple friction pendulum isolation system, supported by lead rubber bearings in combination with cross linear bearings, and in the fixed-base condition. Nonstructural components and contents were installed on the 4th and 5th floors. The isolated buildings were subjected to strong excitations with the goal to approach the displacement limit of the base-isolation devices. The triple friction pendulum system was subjected to a variety of large ground motions, but did not reach its displacement limit as the friction was observed to be larger than during initial bearing characterization. The lead-rubber isolators were subjected simultaneously to large displacements and some tension. Nonstructural component damage and content disruption due to strong vertical excitation was observed in both isolation systems and in the fixed-base configuration.