Development of a Low-Cost Seismic Isolation System for Masonry Housing of 01 to 02 levels

Abstract

The high cost of current anti-seismic devices makes it practically impossible to use them in housing buildings in low-income communities, leaving them exposed to seismic events. For this reason, the objective is to develop a low-cost seismic isolation system, made with inexpensive and accessible materials. In the initial stage, a mathematical model was developed, using its stability by means of phase portraits and the minimum potential energy principle. Then, the influence of geometrical parameters on the dynamic response of the system was analyzed. With the numerical implementation of the model, the structural response of the system was analyzed when subjected to earthquakes with different frequency contents, obtaining as a result a reduction of total accelerations that vary between a range of 4.5 times. The system was validated through the acquisition of the dynamic properties with seismographs, of an experimental model exposed to microtremors; and its comparison with the results obtained from the mathematical model. The proposed isolation system not only reduces the accelerations under the proposed earthquakes but also possesses the main characteristic of a seismic isolation system: period elongation.