Mechanical Performance of a Vertical Seismic Isolation System Employing a Dish Spring

The base isolation technique has been widely used in different countries to reduce seismic disasters during earthquakes. But most of these devices are effective only in horizontal earthquake responses and do not work well in vertical earthquake responses. We propose a vertical seismic isolation system composed of a dish spring and a visco-elastic damper. To study the stiffness and damping performance of this isolation system, a series of tests under static and dynamic loads were performed. The results show that this system is effective in solving problems related to strong vertical bearing capacity and vertical damping of vertical isolation. The system has not only appropriate vertical stiffness and damper performance, but also excellent mechanical performance. In addition, it is compact, easy to manufacture, and can serve as an ideal vertical damping device.