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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Earthquake Engineering
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbuil.2024.1432912

FEASIBILITY OF SLIDING BASE ISOLATION FOR RUBBLE STONE MASONRY BUILDINGS IN THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN RANGE

Provisionally accepted
Yusuke Suzuki Yusuke Suzuki 1*Mayako Tada Mayako Tada 2Ryuta Enokida Ryuta Enokida 3Jiro Takagi Jiro Takagi 4Yoshikazu Araki Yoshikazu Araki 5Sanjay Pareek Sanjay Pareek 6Sanghun Lee Sanghun Lee 7Kohju Ikago Kohju Ikago 3Jia Guo Jia Guo 5Kshitij C. Shrestha Kshitij C. Shrestha 8Iori Fukuda Iori Fukuda 5Takeshi Masui Takeshi Masui 9
  • 1 Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan
  • 2 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tokyo, Japan
  • 3 Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
  • 4 Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tōkyō, Japan
  • 5 Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyōto, Japan
  • 6 College of Engineering, Nihon University, Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan
  • 7 Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai, Japan
  • 8 Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University (Pulchowk Campus), Lalitpur, Nepal
  • 9 Faculty of Environmental and Urban Engineering, Kansai University, Osaka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper studied the feasibility of a sliding base isolation layer to be used in rubble stone masonry buildings in rural areas in the Himalayan Mountain range to provide robust protection to important building like schools against strong earthquakes. In this paper, we carried out on-site investigations, quasistatic tests, and shaking table tests focusing on constructability as well as isolation performance. From the results of the feasibility study, the combination of styrofoam, concrete slab, and grease was found to be the most feasible to be used as the upper element, the lower element, and the lubricant, respectively, in the sliding isolation layer. The key features of the present sliding base isolation layer are: (1) the use of the materials that exist in rural mountain areas or those that can be easily transported from the neighboring towns and cities and (2) ease of construction and minimal change from the current construction practice.From the shaking table tests, we identified the conditions, e.g., grease amount, grease type, normal stress at the interface, and roughness of concrete slab surface, to achieve dynamic friction coefficients ranging from 0.08 to 0.16, suitable for sliding base isolation.

    Keywords: rubble stone masonry, Sliding base isolation, Friction coefficient, Constructability, Transportability, Himalayan mountain range, rural areas, Shaking table tests

    Received: 14 May 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Suzuki, Tada, Enokida, Takagi, Araki, Pareek, Lee, Ikago, Guo, Shrestha, Fukuda and Masui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yusuke Suzuki, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.