Investigation of seismic performance of high damping rubber bearings for isolated bridges using real-time substructure hybrid loading test method

In this study, the real-time hybrid earthquake loading test system basing on the velocity based loading concept was developed. The test system utilizes the concepts of the real-time hybrid loading test method and the substructure technique to combine the loading process of rubber bearing specimens and numerical modeling of bridge columns and girders. A series of real-time hybrid loading tests of rubber isolators (NR, HDR, and HDR-S) were conducted. The objective of this study is to pursue accurate prediction of the dynamic response and base isolation effects of rubber bearings under realistic earthquake conditions. Specially, the base isolation effects of HDR-S (supper-high-damping rubber bearing) were discussed. Through the test results, it is clarified that the HDR-S has more base isolation effect than HDR and NR.