Isolation and damping of footing subjected to seismic loads: A review

الملخص

Seismic isolation achieves its purpose by making the structure functionally independent from the ground through seismic isolators, which are devices that mitigate the horizontal earthquake motion that can be transmitted to a building. The adoption of seismic isolation is not only limited to new structures but also included in many existing structures— major earthquakes demonstrated the effectiveness of these systems, so such is adopted. Most past research on seismic isolation techniques have been confined to regional studies; this paper proposes a historical review on evolution of isolations methods chronologically. Classification of seismic isolation techniques is done based on their mechanism with brief descriptions of their advantages and disadvantages and any recent innovations or alternative methods widely used under this category noted at the end of each classification provided within the study. Earthquakes are considered one of the most dangerous natural conditions, so they claim thousands of lives and property annually to reduce these damages to the facility, several studies and research have been conducted on the possibility of reducing the effects of seismic waves either by absorbing that energy or dissipating it using different techniques to isolate the foundations or to isolate the entire building, but the problem of these techniques needs a special work environment with a high material cost. The research aims to find the best technology or means to protect the facility or to reduce the impact of seismic waves on the foundations using techniques or materials with low economic cost and are available in abundance, such as (rubber or trench work in a certain way and special dimensions) compared to other techniques that require a special method of work and a higher material cost.