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Title:
ANTISEISMIC SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR A BUILDING STRUCTURE
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2006/024940
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
An antiseismic supporting device (1) for a building structure, the supporting device (1) having a cup-shaped fixed body (3) loosely housing a movable body (6) to define an annular chamber (9) between an inner lateral surface (10) of the fixed body (3) and an outer lateral surface (11) of the movable body (6); the annular chamber (9) is filled with a viscous substance (12) and is bounded and sealed at the top by an annular cover (13) fitted to the fixed body (3); and the movable body (6) houses a connecting member (18) projecting from the movable body (6) through a central hole (19) in the cover (13).

Inventors:
COLLINA VINCENZO (IT)
MARABELLO GIOACCHINO (IT)
ZAGO ROBERTO (IT)
ZAMBIANCHI LAMBERTO (IT)
Application Number:
PCT/IB2005/002687
Publication Date:
March 09, 2006
Filing Date:
August 05, 2005
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
SOLES SOCIETA LAVORI EDILI E SERBATOI SPA (IT)
MATTIOLI SPA (IT)
COLLINA VINCENZO (IT)
MARABELLO GIOACCHINO (IT)
ZAGO ROBERTO (IT)
ZAMBIANCHI LAMBERTO (IT)
International Classes:
E04H9/02
Foreign References:
GB991469A1965-05-05
DE2918781B11980-07-31
Other References:
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1997, no. 11 28 November 1997 (1997-11-28)
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1997, no. 02 28 February 1997 (1997-02-28)
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 2000, no. 13 5 February 2001 (2001-02-05)
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
Franzolin, Luigi c/o Studio Torta S.r.l. (Via Viotti 9, Torino, IT)
Download PDF:
Description:
ANTISEISMIC SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR A BUILDING STRUCTURE

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an antiseismic supporting device for a building structure. BACKGROUND ART In the building industry, antiseismic supporting devices are commonly interposed between a foundation structure of a building structure and the building structure itself to enable the building structure to safely withstand earthquake shocks. More specifically, an antiseismic supporting device provides for connecting a supported part of a construction to an underlying supporting part of the construction, so as to normally only permit transmission of forces in the direction of the device axis. One known antiseismic supporting device comprises a cup-shaped fixed body, a cup-shaped movable body housed loosely inside the fixed body, and a connecting member housed inside and extending upwards from the movable body; the movable body rests on the fixed body with the interposition of a skid made of low-friction material to allow the movable body to slide transversely with respect to the fixed body; and an elastic body is preferably interposed between the movable body and the connecting member to cushion vertical stress exerted on the supporting device. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an antiseismic supporting device for a building structure, which is cheap and easy to produce while at the same time providing for improved performance as compared with known antiseismic supporting devices. According to the present invention, there is provided an antiseismic supporting device for a building structure, as recited in Claim 1 and preferably in any one of the following Claims depending directly or indirectly on Claim 1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A non-limiting embodiment of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a partly sectioned side view of an antiseismic supporting device in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 shows a lateral section of a body of the Figure 1 supporting device; Figure 3 shows a plan view of the Figure 2 body; Figure 4 shows a side view of a connecting member of the Figure 1 supporting device. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Number 1 in Figure 1 indicates as a whole an antiseismic supporting device for a building structure. Supporting device 1 is cylindrically symmetrical about a vertical axis 2 of symmetry, and comprises a cylindrical cup-shaped fixed body 3 having a horizontal base 4 from which a vertical lateral wall 5 extends upwards. Fixed body 3 houses a cup-shaped movable body 6 having a horizontal base 7 from which a vertical lateral wall 8 extends upwards; and movable body 6 is housed loosely inside fixed body 3 to define an annular chamber 9 between an inner lateral surface 10 of fixed body 3 and an outer lateral surface 11 of movable body 6. Annular chamber 9 is filled completely with a highly viscous substance 12 (preferably bitumen or synthetic wax) and is bounded at the top by an annular cover 13 fixed to lateral wall 5 of fixed body 3 by means of a number of screws 14. To seal annular chamber 9, an annular top edge 15 of lateral wall 8 of movable body 6 contacts an inner surface 16 of cover 13; and annular top edge 15 is preferably fitted with an elastic sealing member 17 (commonly known as an "O-ring") housed partly inside an annular seat formed along annular top edge 15. Movable body 6 houses a connecting member 18 which projects from bodies 3 and 6 through a central hole 19 in cover 13. A circular metal plate 22 is interposed between a topside base surface 20 of fixed body 3 and an underside base surface 21 of movable body 6, is made of hard steel (e.g. chromium molybdenum steel) , has a mirror-polished top face 23, and defines a sliding surface on which movable body 6 slides with respect to fixed body 3. More specifically, circular plate 22 is inserted tightly inside fixed body 3 so as to perform substantially no lateral movement with respect to fixed body 3. The underside base surface 21 of movable body 6 is fitted with a circular skid 24 made of low-friction material (preferably teflon) . More specifically, base 7 of movable body 6 has a seat for tightly housing skid 24 to prevent any lateral movement between skid 24 and base 7. Connecting member 18 rests on a topside base surface 25 of movable body 6 with the interposition of a circular elastic body 26 (preferably made of rubber) for cushioning vertical stress exerted on supporting device 1; and an anti-extrusion ring 28 is fixed to an underside base surface 27 of connecting member 18, and rests against lateral wall 8 of movable body 6. In a preferred embodiment shown in Figure 2, an underside base surface 29 of fixed body 3 has a highly rough surface finish preferably obtained by forming on underside base surface 29 a number of concentric rings 30 of 1.5 mm in height and spaced 5 mm apart. Fixed body 3, movable body 6, cover 13, and connecting member 18 are preferably made of steel (e.g. Fe 430 B EN 10025) . In actual use, supporting device 1 provides for connecting a supported part of a construction to an underlying supporting part of the construction, so as to normally only permit transmission of forces in the direction of the device axis. More specifically, supporting device 1 is interposed between a foundation structure of a building structure and the building structure itself, by resting base 4 of fixed body 3 on the foundation structure of the building structure, while the building structure itself rests on the top face of connecting member 18. Depending on its viscosity, viscous substance 12 inside annular chamber 9 may perform various functions. If of very high viscosity, viscous substance 12 opposes no resistance to relative movements in any direction perpendicular to the axis of supporting device 1, providing the movements occur over a prolonged period of time (in the region of a few hours) , but prevents any relative movements between fixed body 3 and movable body 6 when the duration of the movement-producing force is in the region of a second. A typical example is a bridge superstructure (supported part) on piers and abutments (supporting part) . By inserting supporting devices 1 between the superstructure and piers, any interaction between the superstructure and piers, caused by variations in temperature and/or flanges in the superstructure, can be totally eliminated, whereas the superstructure is secured rigidly to the piers when the movement-producing forces vary rapidly, as in the case of seismic forces, braking forces, etc., thus distributing the relative horizontal reaction forces between all the supports. If viscous substance 12 is of average viscosity, supporting device 1 may act as a damper, as when supporting devices 1 are interposed between a construction (classic multistory space frame) and the foundation structure. A variable horizontal force (seismic or similar) normally tends to accumulate energy in the superstructure, and which is displayed as vibration of the superstructure in various intrinsic forms. If the earthquake lasts long enough, vibration may be severe enough to damage the superstructure. In this case, by inserting supporting devices 1, energy dissipation is concentrated in viscous substance 12 where the viscous mass acts as a damper in which damping is proportional to the speed of the movement. In other words, viscous substance 12 in annular chamber 9, combined with the low friction between topside base surface 20 of fixed body 3 and underside base surface 21 of movable body 6, allows movable body 6 and connecting member 18 to perform small lateral oscillations (rapidly damped by viscous substance 12) with respect to fixed body 3, thus greatly reducing the stress transmitted to the building structure in the event of earthquake shocks. As will be clear from the foregoing description, supporting device 1 therefore provides for designing structures with a predetermined degree of ductility. Another important point to note is that supporting device 1 as described is cheap and easy to produce.