New Macroscopic Model for Simulating the Dynamic Behavior of Elastomeric Bearings

Elastomeric isolation bearings exhibit complex coupled horizontal-vertical behavior. Most existing macroscopic models simulate the quasistatic test results well but have deficiencies in simulating the dynamic behavior of bearings. In this paper, the experimental observations of previous dynamic bearing tests were investigated. The simulation capacity of existing macroscopic models was checked by comparison with the test data. The results show that the calculated axial load and hysteresis loops exhibit undesired oscillations under dynamic excitation. The intrinsic deficiency of existing models in simulating the dynamic response of a bearing was identified as the coupling or off-diagonal terms in the tangent stiffness matrix and the variation of vertical stiffness of the model. Motivated from this key observation, a new macroscopic model was developed to account for the dynamic behavior of bearings, followed by the suggestion of its numerical implementation. Through the introduction of a new axial load expression, the tangent stiffness matrix of the new model was semidecoupled, and the vertical stiffness of the new model remains unchanged, which reduced the interaction between the horizontal and vertical behavior. The simulation capacity of the new model was then validated by comparison with previous test data. The results show that the new model effectively captures the axial load variation and hysteresis loop of the bearings under dynamic excitations. Moreover, it was found that the consideration of the bearing height improved the simulation accuracy, and the size effect of the bearing is critical for isolated structures with large bearing-to-superstructure-height ratio, such as low- to medium-span bridges.