Experimental and numerical investigation on a passive control system for the mitigation of vibrations on SDOF and MDOF structures: mini Tribological ROCKing Seismic Isolation Device (miniTROCKSISD)

This paper illustrates the results of an experimental campaign performed on a scale prototype of a base dissipator called Mini Tribological ROCKing Seismic Isolation Device. This device allows a smooth, controlled and damped rocking by means of frictional layers and viscous elastic springs, which aim at decoupling the frequencies of the superstructure, at dissipating energy during motion and at re-centering the system once the external action vanishes. Four superstructures are tested - a shear type frame, braced and unbraced, a multi-story frame and a SDOF oscillator - with 96 ambient vibration and impulsive tests. An analytical model is illustrated and validated by the experimental tests. The reduction of relative displacement demand is analyzed for all the cases together with the reduction of the acceleration demand, showing positive effects of the base dissipator on the dynamic behavior of all the superstructures.