NCEER-94-0020 | 7/19/1994 | 216 pages
TOC: The table of contents is provided.
Keywords: Seismic Isolation Systems, Computer Floors, Sliding Bearings, Viscous Dampers, Computer Equipment, Building Contents, Nonstructural Components, Friction Pendulum Systems, Shaking Table Tests, and Dynamic Response Analysis.
Abstract: The work described in this report concentrated on the development and testing of computer floor seismic isolation systems by utilizing devices of established effectiveness in the seismic isolation of buildings and shock isolation of military equipment. A computer floor system with raised floor and a generic slender equipment was constructed. It was isolated by spherically shaped sliding bearings and was highly damped either by utilizing high friction in the bearings or by installing fluid viscous dampers. The spherically shaped bearings provided the simplest means of achieving long period in the isolation system under low gravity load. The isolation system prevented rocking of the cabinet on top of the isolated floor and substantially reduced its acceleration response in comparison to that of a conventional computer floor. An analytical study was also conducted in order to extend the results to a range of parameters which could not be tested.