Evaluation of Assumptions Used in Engineering Practice to Model Buildings Isolated with Triple Pendulum Isolators in SAP2000

The commercial software platform SAP2000 has been used to design base isolated buildings supported by Triple Pendulum TM isolators; however, limited full‐scale test data are available to validate the use of the software for this application. Additionally, previous work has demonstrated that several pitfalls must be avoided when modeling these types of structures in SAP2000. The ability of SAP2000 to predict key engineering demand parameters used in the design of a base‐isolated building is examined by using methods and assumptions employed in current design practice. The SAP2000 analysis results are compared to the data obtained from shake table tests of a full‐scale base‐isolated building and comparable predictions obtained from a more complex OpenSees analysis model of the same building. This study suggests that when methods and assumptions common to engineering practice are applied, SAP2000 can predict the responses with sufficient accuracy for design.