Effect of the Static Coefficient of Friction of Curved Surface Sliders on the Response of an Isolated Building

Effective implementation of the static friction of sliding isolators in object-oriented software for structural design has not yet been achieved, and use of the dynamic friction only for design is common practice. A modeling strategy to account for the contribution of static friction under unidirectional ground motion histories has been developed and used to assess its effects on the response of a building isolated with curved surface sliders. Under low-to-moderate intensity earthquakes, disregarding static friction can lead to unpredictable response of the isolation system and result in a non-conservative evaluation of accelerations and forces transferred to the superstructure.