Property Modification Factors for Seismically Isolated Bridges

An analytical study investigating how changes in the mechanical properties of individual seismic isolators affect the response of isolated bridge structures subjected to earthquake excitation is summarized. Nonlinear response-history analyses are conducted utilizing bins of recorded earthquake ground motion pairs. Twenty bilinear isolation systems are considered so that the results of this study are broadly applicable to the design of seismic isolation systems in the United States. Variations in the mechanical properties are considered using a property modification factor, λ, to modify the appropriate bilinear isolator parameter. The results of analyses considering nominal and modified isolation systems are used to systematically identify changes in system response as a function of the property modification factor. These results are used to determine threshold values of the property modification factor that should aid engineers in the preliminary design and assessment of an isolation system prior to performing the bounding analysis now required by bridge and building design codes.