Predicting Stability Of A Prototype Unbonded Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Isolator By Finite Element Analysis

Unbonded fiber-reinforced elastomeric isolator (U-FREI) is an improved device for seismic mitigation of low-rise buildings. The horizontal force - displacement behavior of U-FRET is nonlinear due to rollover deformation and the horizontal stiffness is a function of both vertical load and horizontal displacement. In this paper, stability of a prototype U-FREI is studied based on the dynamic response utilizing finite element (FE) analysis. Furthermore, the horizontal response of the isolator is also evaluated under the design vertical load and increasing horizontal displacement up to 2.004 (t(r) is the total thickness of rubber layers) to observe the rollout instability.