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Full Program » The National Museum of Western Art (NMWA) in Tokyo, Japan, originally constructed in 1959, was upgraded in 1998 with a seismic isolation system comprising 49 high-damping rubber bearings (HDRs). The main building is one of the renowned works of the French architect Le Corbusier. The upgrade of the main building of the NMWA was the first retrofit project in Japan to use seismic isolation. The design analyses for the upgrade utilized a hysteresis model for HDRs that was previously developed by Kikuchi and Aiken. The original model, which was developed in 1997, was capable of predicting the nonlinear properties of HDR isolators for deformations expected in moderate to large earthquakes; then, in 2007, it was refined to be applicable to small shear strain deformations of the HDRs. The refinement was achieved by using the force-displacement relationships for the isolation system identified from acceleration data taken at the NMWA. The acceleration response of the building has been recorded during a number of earthquakes since strong ground motion accelerometers were installed in 1999. These records include the responses during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and its aftershocks. This is a good opportunity to verify the building design model and the refined hysteresis model for the HDR isolators using these records. The seismic performance of the isolated building during these earthquakes and the seismic response analyses conducted using the refined hysteresis model are presented. The effectiveness of seismic isolation is shown based on the analysis of the recorded acceleration responses. Additionally, the effects of aging and temperature on the HDR shear modulus should be considered in the prediction of the seismic response behavior of the isolated building.

Author(s):

Masaru Kikuchi
Hokkaido University
Japan

Toshihide Kashima
Building Research Institute
Japan

Kyo Fukuda
National Museum of Western Art
Japan