Professor Dimitrios Konstantinidis teamed up with researchers across Europe to win an ERIES transnational access grant to conduct a full-scale shake table testing campaign at the Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) in Lisbon, Portugal.
The project entitled "FREISUST: Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Isolators for seismic resilient structures with SUSTainable Solutions" (PI: Prof. Daniele Losanno, University of Naples Federico II) will evaluate the effectiveness of two innovative seismic isolation systems: a virgin-rubber carbon-fiber reinforced elastomeric isolation (FREI) system and a reclaimed-rubber polyester-fiber isolation system.
The experimental campaign will include tests on a full-scale reinforced concrete building under triaxial base excitation. The project aims to advance FREIs as low-cost earthquake protection for normal-importance, low-rise buildings, and other applications where the cost of conventional seismic isolators is prohibitive.