Influence of ground motion characteristics on the heating effect of lead‐rubber bearings in base‐isolated structures

Abstract Under earthquake excitations, the lead core inside the lead‐rubber bearing (LRB) generates heat, causing the mechanical degradation of LRBs. However, the heating effect is not commonly considered in the seismic analysis and design of base‐isolated structures with LRBs, which may underestimate the seismic response of structures, especially under ground motions with certain specific characteristics. This paper aims to reveal the influence of ground motion characteristics on the heating effect and provide useful references for the seismic analysis and design. In this study, the validated LRB model considering heating effect was employed in a base‐isolated building calibrated by testing data. Ground motion characteristics including amplitude, duration, and frequency content were separated by spectrally equivalent and different records. The results indicate that the rate and peak of the lead core temperature rise are strongly correlated to ground motion characteristics. Seismic responses ignoring the heating effect are underestimated, and this underestimate varies as the amplitude, duration, and frequency content change and reaches up to 60% in the studied case. Note that seismic responses of the isolation system are more affected by heating effects than the superstructure, and the duration shows a more significant influence on the stiffness degradation of LRBs than the frequency content. It is strongly recommended that the required duration of ground motions should be raised and the low stories of the superstructure should be reinforced for isolated structures with LRBs. The significant duration indicator D S5–95 is more reasonable than D S5–75 in the analysis of the heating effect.