Base isolation design and analysis for the 7-story apartment building “Stepanakert-sections-4-5” with R/C monolithic load-bearing walls and asymmetric plan

Mikayel G. Melkumyan *

Armenian Association for Earthquake Engineering, “Melkumyan Seismic Technologies” LLC.
 
Research Article
Global Journal of Engineering and Technology Advances, 2020, 05(02), 047-056.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gjeta.2020.5.2.0100
Publication history: 
Received on 12 November 2020; revised on 20 November 2020; accepted on 21 November 2020
 
Abstract: 
In recent years seismic isolation technologies in Armenia were extensively applied in construction of multi-story residential, medical, hotel, airport, and business center complexes with parking floors and with floors envisaged for offices, shopping centers, fitness clubs, etc. To date there are 55 seismic isolated buildings in the country newly constructed or retrofitted by base or roof isolation systems. Of this number of buildings 48 were erected thanks to the works of the author of this paper and in nowadays Armenia is well known as a country where seismic (base and roof) isolation systems are widely implemented in civil construction. The number of seismically isolated buildings per capita in Armenia is one of the highest in the world – second after Japan. The paper given below emphasizes achievements also in local manufacturing/testing of seismic isolation laminated rubber-steel bearings (SILRSBs). Several remarkable projects on construction of base isolated buildings are briefly mentioned in the paper to demonstrate the experience accumulated in Armenia. Based on the gained experience further developments take place and unique base isolation structural concepts and technologies created by the author are applied more and more in construction of new buildings. In this paper base isolation design and analysis by the Armenian Seismic Code for the 7-story apartment building to be constructed in Stepanakert is described. This will be a first application of base isolation technology to a building the bearing system of which consists of reinforced concrete (R/C) monolithic load-bearing walls and building has an asymmetric plan. It is stated that suggested seismic isolation strategy will reduce the cost of construction of the given building on about 35% in comparison with the cost of conventional construction. Obtained results indicate the high effectiveness of the proposed structural concept of isolation system and the need for further improvement of Seismic Code provisions regarding the values of the reduction factors. 
 
Keywords: 
Seismic (Base) Isolation; Extensive Experience; Apartment Building; Structural Concept; Load-Bearing System; Monolithic R/C Walls; Asymmetric Plan; Seismic Code Analysis; Low-Cost Technology.
 
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