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One of the world's first base-isolated structures the William Clayton building in
Wellington, built in 1982 uses about 80 lead rubber bearings, but this number depends
on how engineers want to distribute the load. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa
Tongarewa in Wellington, which opened in 1998, has 135 lead-rubber bearings. Other
countries have different ways of doing it, some like big bearings with a few columns,
while others prefer lots of little bearings.
Lead rubber bearings were developed as base isolators in the 1970s. They consist of
three basic components a lead plug, rubber and steel, which are generally placed in
layers.
Rubber
The rubber provides flexibility through its ability to move but return to its original
position. At the end of an earthquake, if a building hasnt returned to its original position,
the rubber bearings will slowly bring it back. This might take months, but it will return to
its original position.
Lead
Lead was chosen because of its plastic property while it maydeform with the
movement of the earthquake, it will revert to its original shape, and it is capable of
deforming many times without losing strength. During an earthquake, the kinetic
energy of the earthquake is absorbed into heat energy as the lead is deformed.
Steel
Using layers of steel with the rubber means the bearing can move in a horizontal
direction but is stiff in a vertical direction.
Seismic dampers
Another method for controlling seismic damage in buildings is the installation of seismic
dampers. In this case, the dampening is provided by a lead-based device that looks very
similar to a car damper (shock absorber).
Ground movement forces the lead to pass through a narrow gap. When the direction of
movement changes, the flow of lead is reversed. The principle is still the same as the
lead rubber bearing, with kinetic energy being converted into heat energy, thereby
preventing the building absorbing the kinetic energy.