Periodic material-based seismic isolation system
AssigneeUniversity of Houston
InventorsYi-Lung Mo, Yiqun Yan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Periodic material-based seismic isolation systems and methods are a new and innovative means to mitigate the potential damage to structures due to earthquakes or the like. The periodic materials are arranged in a periodic way in one, two and three directions, which are defined as one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) periodic materials. With this periodic material, the pattern of the earthquake event energy can be completely obstructed or changed when it reaches the periodic foundation of the structural system. This may result in a total isolation of the foundation from the earthquake wave energy.
Claims27
A seismic isolation system comprising:
- a periodic foundation for a structure, wherein the periodic foundation comprises at least one periodic layer with array of unit cells, each of the unit cells comprises
- a core formed from a strong material,
- a coating surrounding at least a portion of the core, wherein the coating is formed from an elastic material, and
- a matrix surround the core and coating.
A method for seismic isolation comprising:
- coating at least a portion of a core with a coating to form a plurality of coated cores, wherein the core is a strong material and the coating is an elastic material;
- dispersing the coated cores in a matrix material to form a periodic foundation, wherein a structure is positioned on the periodic foundation.
A seismic isolation system comprising:
- a periodic foundation for a structure, wherein the periodic foundation comprises at least one elastic layer and at least one strong layer, the at least one elastic layer comprises elastic material and the at least one strong layer comprises strong material, and the at least one elastic and inelastic layers alternate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.