INVESTIGATION OF DYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF ELASTOMERIC BEARING COMPONENTS VIA MODAL ANALYSIS
Elastomeric bearing is a significant device in structures such as in bridges and buildings. It is used to isolate the ground structure (substructure) and the above ground structure (superstructure) from seismic loads such as earthquake load. Understanding the dynamic behavior of the elastomeric bearing in terms of natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping are increasingly important especially in improving the design and the failure limit of the elastomeric bearing. Modal analysis is one of the methods used to determine the dynamic properties of any materials. Hence, the main objective of this research is to determine the dynamic properties of elastomeric bearing components in terms of natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping via numerical and experimental modal analysis. This method had been successfully performed in investigating the dynamic behavior of rubber and steel shim plate.