Seismic Base Isolation System using Scrap Old Tyres

Enfeebling the effects of vibration caused by the movement of tectonic plates has been the major topic ofresearch in the field of Structural Engineering. Base isolation is a technique used to counteract the effects of seismicvibration and ensuring the safety of the superstructure. Even though, the strategy of base isolation has been used ininterminable number of structures, there is a need for economized, effective base isolation technique. India has beenrecycling and reusing waste tyres for four decades, it is estimated that 60% are disposed of through illegal dumping.India, being the second largest manufacturer of rubber after China, there is a menace of rubber disposal in thecountry. Despite the numerous efforts of technologists of recycling and utilizing the scrap rubber tyres, 17% of thescrap rubber tyres are diverted to landfill creating disposal problem. Therefore, there is a need for utilizing the usedscrap rubber tyres in an innovative way instead of dumping it.Scrap Rubber tyres, being elastic in nature serve to be a potential shock absorber of seismic vibrations. In thepresent study, an attempt is made to utilize the recycled scrap rubber tyre in seismic isolation of structure. Thistechnique proves to be a low- cost earthquake mitigation technique which can potentially reduce the damage causedby seismic shock propagation into the structure and hence ensure overall safety of the structure. An experimentalanalysis is done to evaluate the properties of assembly of rubber tyres and utilization of the same for isolating baseof structures to check for the effectiveness in enfeebling the shocks produced by seismic vibrations. Furthermore,using the properties of scrap rubber tyres obtained from the experimental results, performance of the scrap tyres asa base isolation system for a multistoried building and stability of the structure was studied using Finite elementanalysis tool.