Application of an Extended Bouc-Wen Model in Seismic Response Prediction of Unbonded Fiber-Reinforced Isolators

The focus of this article is on seismic-response prediction of Stable Unbonded-Fiber Reinforced Elastomeric Isolators (SU-FREIs). The lateral load-displacement of a SU-FREI can be characterized with a gradual softening that is followed by stiffening. An extended Bouc-Wen Model is developed to simulate the response behavior of SU-FREIs under seismic events. To examine the accuracy of model, the response of a base isolated structure to different input earthquakes were simulated and compared with the results of a previous shake table study. Results of this study indicate that the proposed Bouc-Wen Model is robust and reasonably accurate in seismic analysis of SU-FREIs.