Sharif Univ. Develops Base Isolation System

Tehran, Sept 10, IRNA - A team of researchers at Sharif University of Technology has developed base isolation system for protecting buildings and non-building structures, using polyamide fibers. Base isolation, also known as seismic base isolation or base isolation system, is one of the most popular means of protecting a structure against earthquake forces, wrote Wednesday's edition of 'Iran Daily'. It is a collection of structural elements which should substantially decouple a superstructure from its substructure resting on a shaking ground thus protecting a building or non-building structure’s integrity. Base isolation is one of the most powerful tools of earthquake engineering pertaining to the passive structural vibration control technologies. It is meant to enable a building to survive a potentially devastating seismic impact through a proper initial design or subsequent modifications. In some cases, application of base isolation can raise both a structure’s seismic performance and its seismic sustainability considerably, but base isolation does not make a building earthquake proof. Tomb of Cyrus, in Pasargad, Fars province, is said to be the oldest base-isolated structure in the world./end