Laminated Rubber Bearings Analysis

5 and Design for Structures in Seismic

Regions

Govardhan Bhatta,*and Manoj Dhakada

a
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Raipur,
India

*Corresponding author: [Link]@[Link]

ABSTRACT
For the earthquake protection systems, the seismic base isolation is most
popular. Basically, Seismic base isolation isolating the structure and its
contents from strong ground motion that reduces an earthquake effect. In
building structures exclusive sorts of seismic isolation and passive systems
were used commonly for solving problems related to the earthquake vibrations
or wind [Link] passive energy dissipation systems for seismic design
is a quite latest development, although there at the moment are examples of
these systems at some stage in the arena. On this observe, the authors tried to
demonstrate approval application of LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual
Instrumentation Engineering Workbench) program in designing the structural
bearings and also its potential to giving correct responses using finite element
analysis. The LabVIEW design has been demonstrated and validated with the
prevailing literature. Finite element analysis the usage of ANSYS is executed,
to examine the effect of lead core and shape of the bearings. Design of
elastomeric bearings with lead is massive because the energy dissipation is
high. From the outcomes, elastomeric bearing with lead shows higher
mechanical properties and for this reason recommended for the strong seismic
location.

Keywords:Earthquake, Structural bearing, Disaster mitigation, Sustainable

construction; energy dissipation, damping

© Grinrey Publications 2021 | [Link]

Advances in Materials Science and Engineering | ISBN: 978-81-948951-9-0
In Series: Research Transcripts in Materials | Vol: 01
 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

1. INTRODUCTION
Reducing the seismic demand especially in view of poorly constructed
building structure through isolation is not simplest however reliable
engineering solution; this will plenty safer design than the traditional
design [12]. Increase of structure capacity in terms of earthquake
resistance and seismic demand reduction base isolation technique is
very effective.
Base isolation has now been utilized in numerous buildings in
countries like Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and the America. In case of
retrofitting of essential building the base isolation is likewise
beneficial.
Authorsproposed a technique to gain non-iterative bilinear properties
of the elastomeric bearing. Non-iterative analytical modelling of the
base isolation system idealized as a bilinear system of structure, the
bearing has been done. The contrast had been made between the
iterative method and the proposed method. The conclusion of this
study became, the proposed method offers more correct outcomes, and
it’s far much less time consuming as compared to the iterative
technique [11].
For the design of elastomeric bearings program were evolved with the
usage of LabVIEW [13,14]. LabVIEW may be a useful tool in
structural engineering, and due to its real-time data acquisition
properties, it’s far very useful in analyzing the real-existing problems
also. Finite element analysis of different shape bearings is carried out
with and without the lead core.
The powerful technique to evaluate the behavior of a physical system
is ANSYS it’s a FEM software for which the analytical closed-form
solution does now not exist or deemed to be very complex in realistic
use [3].

1.1. Modelling of Elastomeric Bearings

Numerical of elastomeric bearings based totally seismic isolation
system consists of alternate layers of steel shim and rubber with the
inserted lead cylinder within the core of bearing. In the lead rubber
being steel plates, which provide excessive vertical stiffness and rubber

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

gives horizontal flexibility. To introduce better energy dissipation

behavior, lead insert within the rubber bearing as shown in Fig. 1.
LLRB system need to be capable of aid the structure vertically, to offer
essential horizontal flexibility together with the restoring force, and
offer the desired hysteretic damping. Through effective stiffness and
powerful damping on the design displacement the linear model of an
isolation system is modelled [5, 6].

Steel layer
Rubber Layer

Lead Plug
End plate

Fig. 1. Laminated lead rubber bearing.

Design program of elastomeric bearing has been evolved in LabVIEW

software based on totally on numerous codes such as ATC, FEMA
451, ASCE 41, IS 1893 and British Standards [1,2,4,7,10,13]. Design
of the laminated lead rubber bearing based isolation system depends on
the fixed base structure. Fundamental characteristics of the structure
(like time period, frequency horizontal and vertical force) from a fixed
base building are obtained [8]. Calculate the design displacement and
other parameters; the detailed procedure is explained below.

The vertical forceWon individual isolator is calculated from different

load combination and time period is assumed 2 to 3 times of fixed base
structure.

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

Calculate the effective stiffness Keff

W 4 2
K eff   2 (1)
g Tb
Calculate the design displacement corresponding 10% effective
damping (Sd)

SaTb 2
Sd  (2)
4 2

Dissipation of energy per cycle (𝑊𝐷 ) is calculated,

WD  2 Keff Sd 2eff (3)

Force at design displacement or characteristics strength (𝑄)

WD
Q (4)
4Sd

Stiffness of rubber (𝐾2 ) is calculated,

Q
K 2  K eff  (5)
Sd

𝑄
Where, 𝑆 is the stiffness of lead core
𝑑

Yield displacement (𝐷𝑦 )is calculated,

Q
Dy  (6)
K1  K 2
where, K1  10K2

Recalculation of (𝑄 to𝑄𝑅 ),
WD
QR  (7)
4  S d  Dy 

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

Area and diameter of the lead plug (𝐴𝑝 &𝑑𝑝 ) is calculated,

Q
Ap 
f py

4 Ap
dp  (8)


Where 𝑓𝑝𝑦 yield strength of the lead core

Revising rubber stiffness (𝐾𝑒𝑓𝑓 to 𝐾𝑒𝑓𝑓(𝑅) )

QR
K eff ( R )  K eff  (9)
Sd

The total depth of the rubber layer (𝑡𝑟 ) is calculated,

Sd
tr  (10)
 max
where, 𝛾𝑚𝑎𝑥 design shear strain (50%)

Area and diameter of bearing (𝐴𝐿𝐿𝑅𝐵 &𝑑𝐿𝐿𝑅𝐵 ) is calculated,

Keff ( R )  tr
ALLRB 
G

4A
d LLRB  (11)


Shape factor (𝑠) is calculated,

1  EC 
S   1 (12)
  E 

Where, 𝐸𝑐 compression modulus

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

Thickness and number of rubber layer (𝑡&𝑁) is calculated,

d LLRB
t (13)
4S

tr
N
t

The thickness of steel rubber (t s and, Ns ) is calculated

4tW
ts  (14)
ALLRB  0.6 Fy '

Ns=N-1

Total height of isolator (𝐻) is calculated,

H  tr   Ns  ts    2  tcov er  (15)

1.2. The design program for LLRB

The program has prepared for the design of laminated lead rubber
bearing (LLRB) in LabVIEW and results are obtained from
LABVIEW program is compared with the result of [Link] [9].
Block diagram of the program is given in Fig. 2. The design
parameters and material properties are given in Table 1, 2 and 3.

Table 1. Design parameters used of LLRB

The time period of the structure (sec) 0.875

Design vertical load (kN) 855
Damping ratio (%) eff = 10
Design shear strain (%) γmax = 50
c ×
2
Allowable normal stress (kN/m )
Modification factor 0.57

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

Table 2. Material characteristics used for the design of LLRB

Rubber Lead Steel
Elastic Modulus Yield Strength Yield Strength
3 2 3 2
E = 4.45 × 10 kN/m fpy = 8.82 × 10 kN/m Fy = 2.74 × 105
kN/m2
Shear Modulus Elastic Modulus Elastic Modulus
E = 1.06 × 103 kN/m2 E = 17500 kN/m2 E = 2 × 105 kN/m2
Elongation at Break Poisson Ratio Poisson Ratio
Time 0.44 0.3
b = 500 %

Table 3. Material Properties of the bearing

Steel Poisson's ratio = 0.3
Modulus of elasticity = 200000 MPa
Density = 7850 kg/m3
Yield Strength = 270 MPa
Modulus of elasticity = 17500 MPa,
Lead
Yield Strength = 8.82 MPa
Poisson ratio = 0.44
Rubber Poison's ratio of rubber = 0.5
Ogden first-order model became used with low shear
modulus and really high bulk modulus.
With linear elastic models excessive nonlinearity of
rubber behavior can’t be captured

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Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

Fig. 2. Design program of Elastomeric Bearings in LabVIEW Design program of Elastomeric Bearings in LabVIEW
 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

2. NUMERICAL MODELLING IN ANSYS SOFTWARE

2.1. Models of Elastomeric Bearing in ANSYS
The rubber and steel were used as alternative layers for Laminated
rubber bearings (LRB) preparation. The 3-dimensional area received in
more than one layers to assign distinctive properties of materials for
lead, rubber and steel in different layers. The four sorts of elastomeric
bearings are modelled (CLRB) Circular Laminated Rubber Bearing,
(SLRB) Square Laminated Rubber Bearing, (CLLRB) Circular
Laminated Lead Rubber Bearing, and (SLLRB) Square Laminated
Lead Rubber Bearing are shown in Fig. 4.

To understand the behavior of constrained rubber layer under

compressive loading analysis of a single rubber layer were done. To
imitate all features of the actual bearing Finite element models were
built. Geometric parameters are shown in Table 4, that’s used in
modelling of elastomeric bearings. Material properties are taken from
T. K. Datta[9] for the design of the elastomeric bearing.

Table 4. Geometric parameters used to the modeling of elastomeric

bearing in ANSYS

Dimension CLRB CLLRB SLRB SLLRB

rubber layer thickness (mm) 14 14 14 14
Quantity of rubber layer 29 29 29 29
steel layer thickness (mm) 3 3 3 3
Quantity of the steel layer 28 28 28 28
lead core diameter (mm) 0 50 0 50
Diameter /size of bearing (mm) 560 560 500×500 500×500
Bearing height (mm) 490 490 490 490

2.2. Loading and Boundary Condition

All the nodes at the bottom are fixed against rotations and translations.
The load is given as constant amplitude cyclic displacement loading.
The maximum displacement of 100 mm side face at the top surface of
the nodes in X- direction for 9 seconds is given as shown in Fig. 3.

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

Cyclic Displacement
150
Displacement (mm)
100

50

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
-50

-100

-150
Time (s)

Fig. 3. Cyclic displacement loading applied

Fig. 4. Geometry of bearing a) CLRB b) CLLRB c) SLRB d) SLLRB

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The rubber undergoes large deformation; hence its behavior is non-
linear under cyclic shear loading. Therefore, non-linear static analysis
is conducted to understand the behavior of models of elastomeric
bearing under the cyclic shear [Link] Ogden first order hyper
elastic material is used to elastomer model of rubber. In ANSYS,
material constant and incompressibility parameter are defined for
hyper elastic model.
Horizontal displacement value is applied displacement corresponding
incrementally to 50 % shear strain is applied. In this study, four
models of elastomeric bearings are considered to analyze in ANSYS .
For solving the equilibrium problem, the Newton Raphson method is
used for solving the nonlinear [Link] dissipationand
deformed shape along the bearing models are shown in Fig. 5.
3.1. Deformed Shape of Elastomeric Bearing Models
The deformed shape of bearing due to the application of 100 mm
horizontal cyclic displacement at the top of the bearing is shown in
Fig. 5. The relative deformation between adjacent layers of
elastomeric bearings models is shown in Fig. 5.
In Fig. 5, deformed shape of CLRB, CLLRB, SLRB, and SLLRB are
shown. CLLRB model gives maximum deformation at the same shear
cyclic loading.

a)

b)

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

c)

d)
Fig. 5. Deform shape of elastomeric bearing under cyclic loading a)
CLRB b) CLLRB c) SLRB d) SLLRB

3.2. Shear Force Vs Displacement Plot

Elastomeric bearing with and without lead is analyzed to check the

energy dissipation capacity and damping mechanism. Shear force Vs
displacement plot shows typical hyper-elastic nature of the material.
The force-displacement curves of the bearing are plotted as shown in
below.

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Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

a)

b)

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

c)

d)

Fig. 6. Force-displacement behavior of elastomeric bearing under

cyclic loading a) CLRB b) CLLRB c) SLRB d) SLLRB
In Fig. 6, the hysteresis curve of elastomeric bearing are shown. The
hysteretic area is increased considerably in case of CLLRB and
SLLRB as compared to CLRB and SLRB.

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

a)

b)
Fig. 7. Comparisons of different bearing models a) stiffness b)
damping
In Fig. 7, a variation of effective stiffness and effective damping of
SLRB, CLRB, SLLRB and CLLRB are shown. It is clear from the
graph that SLLRB & CLLRB are providing more stiffness and
damping in comparison with CLRB and SLRB.
From the graphs, the CLLRB Energy dissipation capacity is lots better
in contrast with the CLRB and is growing by means of the
deformation increase.

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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

4. CONCLUSION
Elastomeric bearings are designed using LABVIEW programming
software. Elastomeric bearings with and without the lead in different
shapes are analyzed using finite element software. Circular Laminated
Rubber Bearing (CLRB), Circular Laminated Lead Rubber Bearing
(CLLRB) Square Laminated Rubber Bearing (SLRB) and Square
Laminated Lead Rubber Bearing (SLLRB) are considered to check the
effect of energy dissipation behavior by addition of lead. The
subsequent conclusions are drawn based totally on the outcomes,
 Effective stiffness, energy dissipation capacity and damping
are increased significantly due to the addition of lead in the
bearings.
 The effective stiffness of CLLRB and SLLRB is nearly four
times the CLRB and SLRB.
 Effective damping of CLLRB and SLLRB is nearly two times
the CLRB and SLRB.
 Shape effect of elastomeric bearings is considerably negligible.
CLRB and CLLRB have slightly higher properties in
comparison with SLRB and SLLRB, respectively.
 The energy dissipation in laminated lead rubber bearing is
much higher than laminated rubber bearing. The difference of
energy dissipation 80 to 85% so laminated lead rubber bearing
is recommended for a high earthquake-prone area.

Nomenclature
ALLRB : Area of bearing
Ap : Area of the lead plug
CLLRB : Circular Laminated Lead Rubber Bearing
CLRB : Circular Laminated Rubber Bearing
dLLRB : Diameter of bearing
Dp : Diameter of the lead plug
Dy : Yield displacement
E : Elastic Modulus
fpy : Yield Strength
H : Total height of isolator

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 Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad

K2 : Stiffness of rubber
Keff : Effective stiffness
LLRB : Laminated lead rubber bearing
LRB : Laminated rubber bearings
N : Number of rubber layer
Q : Force at design displacement
s : Shape factor
SD : Design displacement
SLLRB : Square Laminated Lead Rubber Bearing
SLRB : Square Laminated Rubber Bearing
t : Thickness of rubber layer
tr : Total depth of the rubber layer
WD : Dissipation of energy per cycle

REFERENCES
[1] American Society of Civil Engineers. Minimum Design Loads
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 Laminated Rubber Bearings for Structures in Seismic Regions

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9780470824610. John Wiley, 2010.
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Cite this article

Govardhan Bhatt and Manoj Dhakad, “Laminated Rubber Bearings Analysis

and Design for Structures in Seismic Regions,” in Advances in Materials
Science and Engineering, Kishor B. Kale, Balasaheb S. Gandhare, Sham S.
Kulkarni, Ed. Pune, India: Grinrey Publishing, 2021, ch. 5, pp. 69-86.

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