18th World Conference on Seismic Isolation-WCSI, Antalya, Türkiye, 6 - 10 Kasım 2023, cilt.533, ss.518-537, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Numerous strong earthquakes have highlighted the global vulnerability of key structures, such as seismically isolated buildings, tall skyscrapers, major pipelines, tunnels, large storage tanks, and long-span bridges, to near-fault and long-period ground motions. Consequently, evaluating the impact of longperiod seismic excitations on these critical structures has become increasingly important. This paper introduces a new generation Structural Seismic Isolation Method (SSIM) and System (SSIS), designed to protect Highly Reliable Structures (HRS) against intense earthquakes, including those with near-fault and longperiod ground motions. This innovative method aims to address the limitations and vulnerabilities of the Conventional Application Method of Seismic Base Isolation Devices (CAMSBID). The SSIM approach utilizes existing conventional elastomeric isolators with periods of up to 4 s, transforming the structure into an SSIS. This results in the structure exhibiting an inverse pendulum behavior, thereby extending the natural period of the structure beyond the predominant period of most earthquakes, including near-fault pulses. This paper details the characteristics, evaluation, efficiency, and application results of the SSIM method and SSIS system on highrise buildings, nuclear containment structures, and tower structures. The findings demonstrate that SSIS structures experience significantly lower response levels compared to those using the CAMSBID method, and they do not resonate during seismic events.