Seismic Isolation and Energy Dissipation

The inauspicious scenario left by earthquakes must encourage to reduce disastrous effects of such calamity. One way is to be engineers aware of anti-seismic devices. An example of a practical application is given by a retrofit intervention on isolated structure conducted on the Our Lady of Tears Shine (Italy). Rubber bearings supporting the impressive dome have been substituted with sliding seismic isolators. On the other hand, an innovative research on energy dissipation has been carried out on a mock up scaled structure. The specimen has been characterized and tested with six different energy dissipation devices. Finite Element models have been built to closely simulate the behaviour of the analyzed structures. More effort is given to rubber bearings as the most common alternative in high risk areas. Buckling and roll-out instability behaviour of non-bolted bearings as low cost technology is presented. The outstanding analyses are fully addressed in the context of seismic protection. The results can be interpreted to familiarize with the earthquake protection theory in order to confidently adopt seismic protection technologies in structures.