Quantifying damage in the steel shims of seismic isolation rubber bearings due to support rotation

Seismic isolation is an effective technique for mitigating the earthquake movements on important infrastructures such as bridges and hospitals. Rubber bearings are one of the most common seismic isolation devices used for the protection of critical infrastructure assets. Isolators are critical elements of an isolated structure, and as such, they should experience limited, if any, damage during earthquake shaking. Damage associated with yielding …