Seismic isolation of civil buildings in the People's Republic of China

Abstract Buildings designed with traditional anti‐seismic systems are susceptible to damage by certain levels of earthquake activity, and may be seriously damaged or collapsed by unpredicted earthquakes. More and more un‐expectedly strong earthquakes represent a severe threat to human life and safety. The people urgently demand buildings that are guaranteed safe in strong earthquakes. Seismic isolation provides a new way to satisfy this human need. About 450 buildings with seismic isolation had been built in China up to the end of 2000. The safety level of buildings with seismic isolation is increased by a factor of 2–8, but building cost are 3–15% lower for general civil buildings. Wide application of seismic isolation of civil buildings has become a strong tendency in China and other countries. This paper briefly introduces recent research, applications and developments in seismic isolation of civil buildings in China, including, different isolation systems and different design levels, a series of tests and research projects, design codes and analysis programs, a summary of application status and examples, with discussion of some problems in the future development of seismic isolation of buildings.