Abstract
Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), as a field-dependent smart material, has been widely applied on base isolation for vibration reduction. However, the MRE isolation system often experiences large drift during strong earthquake, which may cause mechanical failure. Additionally, its performance among low frequency range is still limited. To tackle these problems, this paper proposes a hybrid vibration isolation system which is composed of four stiffness softening MRE isolators and a passive ball-screw inerter. A simulation was developed to prove the effectiveness of the hybrid isolation system before the earthquake tests. A scaled three-storey building was developed based on the scaling laws as the isolated objective in earthquake experiments. Besides, a linear quadratic regulation (LQR) controller was utilised to control the mechanical properties of the hybrid MRE isolation system. Finally, the evaluation experiments of the building under a scaled Kobe earthquake excitation were conducted. The experimental results show that the simulation and the experimental results were in agreement, validating that the hybrid isolation system could provide a better vibration mitigation performance, in the meanwhile, reduce the displacement amplitude of the isolation system.