RECENT APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-DAMPING HYSTERETIC DEVICES FOR THE SEISMIC ISOLATION OF BUILDINGS AND BRIDGES

Seismic isolation is a technique in which a structure is decoupled fro m earthquake-induced ground motions. To control the displacement of th e isolated structure, dampers are often included as major components o f the isolation system. The most common energy absorption mechanism us ed for these devices is the hysteretic damping due to the plastic defo rmation of lead or steel. In this paper we describe the characteristic s of the lead devices and present applications of hysteretic dampers t o seismic isolation in Italy, USA, Japan and New Zealand.