Experimental study of FPS system in bridge seismic isolation

An experimental study of a seismically isolated and a comparable non-isolated bridge is presented. The bridge model featured flexible piers, weighed 158 kN and was tested on a shake table with an array of real and simulated seismic motions with peak acceleration in the range 0.1-1-1g. When isolated, the bridge deck was supported by four spherically shaped sliding bearings (known as Friction Pendulum System or FPS bearings) with friction coefficient under dynamic conditions in the range 0.07-0.12. The experimental results demonstrated a substantial improvement in the ability of the isolated bridge to sustain all levels of seismic excitation under elastic conditions.