Versatile Aseismic Isolation Based on Practical Applications of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Resilience Against Earthquakes

Effective protection against earthquakes has always challenged humanity. Aseismic isolation (AI) has provided an excellent solution and isolation systems (ISs) have improved seismic safety of the built environment. However, this improving impact of AI on seismic resilience is not appropriate to its capabilities and further attempts are required. Advanced materials provide great opportunities to make AI more effective in sustainable seismic resilience. Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are known as the most favorable advanced materials for this purpose. SMA-based superelasticity-assisted slider (SSS) brings the advantages of SMAs in the practice of AI by innovatively combining them with the technically preferred sliding ISs. SSS is pioneered to seismically protect a broad variety of structures using a single platform. This IS can be implemented both traditionally by its construction-industry-friendly structure and in the industrialized style by means of isolation units. It is also facilitated by SSS to utilize other advanced materials such as nanomaterials and metamaterials. All these are discussed in this paper. The versatility of SSS is demonstrated by explanatory technical drawings and roles of alternative configurations that result in various hysteretic behaviors are investigated. Possible design strategies are studied for a typical office building and a sensitive medical equipment. Applications of other advanced materials are suggested and seismic performances of SSS are compared with those of currently used ISs in earthquake protection of a typical reinforced concrete building. It is shown that high seismic performances can be obtained by the practical applications of the advanced materials in the AI technology to obtain sustainability in seismic resilience.