A Preisach Model for The Lead-Rubber Bearing Hysteresis Loop

Abstract

Lead-rubber bearings are often used as isolation/dissipation devices in the bridge structures, as they provide both, period shift and increased damping in the structure, reducing significantly the seismic forces and displacements induced in the bridge. The hysteresis loop of the lead-rubber bearing, usually approximated with bilinear shape, is an important numerical parameter directly used in the analysis and design of this type of the structure. In this paper, an innovative rigorous and closed-form analytical solution of the lead-rubber bearing hysteresis loop was developed applying the Preisach model. This analytical model allows an accurate computation of all points on the hysteresis loop as well as its area.