Negative stiffness device for seismic protection of smart base isolated benchmark building

This paper presents a novel negative stiffness device (NSD) for the seismic protection of the base isolated benchmark building in near fault earthquake. The benchmark structure has eight stories and irregular plan, and the superstructure is considered to be a linear elastic system with lateral torsional behavior. Furthermore, it is equipped with low damping elastomeric rubber bearings and viscous dampers for seismic protection. The proposed NSD can change the stiffness of composite structure-device assembly, emulate apparent yielding of the structure system without permanent deformations. It consists of a highly compressed spring, a wheel and a curved template that the wheel can roll on. The device can achieve any force-displacement behavior within its designed range. Experimental results are presented to verify the analytical model of the NSD. Numerical simulation results under seven earthquake inputs show that the proposed device is effective in reducing the response of the base and superstructure in comparison with a sample clipped optimal controller and an H2/LQG sample controller.