A Novel Method of Searching Appropriate Ranges of Base Isolation

STRUCTURAL CONTROL AND HEALTH MONITORING
Struct. Control Health Monit. (2008)

Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/stc.259
A novel method of searching appropriate ranges of base

isolation design parameters through entropy-based
classication
Pei Chiung Huang1, Shiuan Wan2,,y and Jia Yih Yen1
1
Department of Civil Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan

2
Department of Information Management, Ling Tung University, Taichung, Taiwan
SUMMARY
This paper proposes an idea of selecting the proper ranges of design parameters for modifying the responses
of base-isolated systems. Parametric analysis of base isolation designs on seismic protection is generally
achieved through multiple adjustments of system parameters based on the observations of system responses,
but applying such procedures is very time consuming. If the ranges of inputs (design parameters) could be
reasonably estimated earlier to obtain suitable outputs (structural responses), then the computational efforts
could be reduced. This study generates limited design cases to analyze the relationships between designs and
system responses. Specically, the Shannon entropy, a Data Mining method, can be used to classify the
proper and improper ranges of design parameters. A case study on the lead rubber bearing base-isolated
machinery located at Central Science Park in Taiwan subjected to several records of Chi-Chi earthquake
from different stations is presented. Entropy-based classication is applied in the case study and the
practicability of the analyzed result is veried. Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS:
base isolation design; entropy-based classication; seismic protection
INTRODUCTION
Base isolation system has become a practical strategy for an earthquake-resistant design in
recent years. In the past literature, parametric studies on base-isolated structures are performed
through iterations and adjustments of system parameters to produce acceptable design strategies
based on the performance of base isolation devices and the reduction of structural responses to
earthquakes. System parameters and structural responses become important concepts of base
isolation. Clearly speaking, on the one hand, the system parameters considered are usually
*Correspondence to: Shiuan Wan, Department of Information Management, Ling Tung University, Taichung, Taiwan.
y
E-mail: shiuan123@mail.ltu.edu.tw
Contract/grant sponsor: National Science Council project; contract/grant numbers: 95-2415-H-275-001, 95-2221-E-005121
Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 2 August 2007

Revised 9 January 2008
Accepted 22 February 2008
P. C. HUANG, S. WAN AND J. Y. YEN
involved with basic properties of the structures and the isolators such as the mass, stiffness, yield
strength, damping ratio and natural periods. On the other hand, structural responses are used in
two major aspects: (1) measurable indexes: acceleration, displacement, forces and ductility (such
as [16]) and (2) energy indexes (such as [79]).
A possible manner of nding the optimal design for the base isolation systems is usually
achieved through adjustments of the system parameters. These adjustments are concerned with
the iterations in dynamic analyses, whereas the structural responses are ensured to protect
structural safety. However, in fact, it could be difcult to obtain tting design strategies if (1)
initial design parameters are selected inappropriately (insensitive or out of range) or (2) multiple
earthquakes are considered for the excitations of a base isolation system. Base isolation designs
with the above problems may cause tedious and repeated iteration calculations to obtain
expected structural responses.
Therefore, Wan and Yen [10] used the modied back propagation neural network (BPNN)
as a predictor to substitute the step-by-step integration of the dynamic approach. Hundreds of
design cases (containing different combinations of design parameters and corresponding
system responses) are rst sampled and learned from BPNN. Then, the system responses
for any combination of design parameters can be precisely predicted through the learned
system of BPNN. In their study, a convenient method is found to obtain relationships
among massive inputs and system responses. Unfortunately, many design cases are necessary
to construct a reliable learned system of BPNN. In addition, a learned system of BPNN
from the design cases with the same background may be merely suitable for a specic
condition with a given structural system and a ground motion excitation. Thus, a concise
approach, the response surface method (RSM) introduced by Box and Wilson [11], is then
discussed.
Specically, RSM has been extensively applied in many elds for parametric optimizations
such as materials [12], food chemistry [13], structural reliability [14,15] and so on. In this
method, the relationships between parameters (or variables, xi) and responses (y) in a given
system can be described as an approximation surface. This approximation surface can be
expressed by common models such as
X
y b0
bi xi E
1
i
y b0
bi xi
y b0
bi xi
XX
i
X
i
bii x2i
bijioj xi xj E
XX
i
bijioj xi xj E
where e is the error component and b is the coefcient of weight. The optimal approximation
surface for suitable values of b can be obtained by minimizing the error component e through
regression. Then, the ideal design point or the best values of parameters will be located at the
highest point, lowest point or saddle point of the approximation surface. This approximation
surface can be constructed from a few samples of the relationships between xi and y. Higher orders
of Equations (1)(3) simulate more complicated approximation surfaces than those of the lower
orders. Although RSM provides a concise manner of nding optimal design results, the quantity
and the quality of the given samples (xi and y) are signicant. Some experimental techniques are
used to select suitable samples such as the central composite design and BoxBehnken design [16]

DOI: 10.1002/stc
SEARCHING PROPER RANGES OF BASE ISOLATION DESIGN PARAMETERS
and so on, but even then the optimal design results are sensitive to the samples especially for the
problems of complex approximate surfaces. Further, even if a suitable design result is chosen, this
result may still be unreasonable if a local minimum (or maximum) is encountered.
In this study, the objective of a precise optimal design point (or the best combination of
parameter values) is replaced by a general concept of suitable ranges of design parameters to
decrease the inuence of the selecting samples on the optimal design results. Additionally, a
common random sampling procedure is adopted instead of sampling by experimental
techniques. Then, an efcient data mining technique, entropy-based classication, is used to
allocate the optimal boundaries of the suitable ranges from given initial ranges of design
parameters. Also, the local minimum (or maximum) can be rationally avoided. This paper
shows that a few given selected (design) samples can attain good design strategies through
entropy-based classication. That is, our study relies on two basic concepts of entropy-based
classication including (1) the main process of classication, and (2) the criterion of entropy.
In the next section, these concepts are briey introduced.
Classication is a task of grouping data with multiple attributes into relevant categories.
Examples of classication [17] include detecting spam e-mail messages based on the message
header and content, categorizing cells as malignant or benign based on the results of MRI scans
and classifying galaxies based on their shapes. The objective of classication herein is to classify
the structural responses with multiple attributes of system (or design) parameters.
Many techniques were developed to handle classication problems, such as decision tree,
rule-based and nearest-neighbor classiers and support vector machine. Each of them includes
respective criteria in the analyzing procedures. This study utilizes the Shannon entropy [18] in
the decision tree as the analysis criterion. Briey, the Shannon entropy is the level of disorder
between causes (or attribute) and results (or decision) in a concerned subject. It can be employed
to decide clearly whether the entropy in a subject is small. This investigation applies the
Shannon entropy with classication concept (namely entropy-based classication) to assess
the relationships between the decisions of the structural response categories and the attributes of
the given design parameters.
The Shannon entropy is applied in many elds such as the data exploration task in the
epidemiology of school children injuries by Vorko and Franjo [19], the potential availability of
water resources in an area in terms of disorder in intensity and over-a-year apportionment of
monthly rainfall by Maruyama et al. [20] and the possibility of adopting the class entropy of the
output of a connectionist phoneme recognizer to predict time boundaries between phonetic
classes by Salvi [21].
The steps for the entire study are shown in Figure 1. A study data set is usually required
before using entropy-based classication for knowledge extraction. This study used a welldeveloped study data set to describe the feasible designs of lead rubber bearing (LRB) baseisolated machinery systems. The data set was predetermined by randomly generating the
practical values of design parameters. The structural responses from the ground motion inputs
of Chi-Chi earthquake (station TCU053) were calculated for an illustration example. That is,
the given parameters and corresponding dynamic responses were used as the elements of the
study data set. In the next procedure, entropy-based classication was applied in the study data
set to attain the knowledge rules on allocating the proper ranges of the design parameters for
satisfactory structural responses.
In the results, the knowledge rules obtained through entropy-based classication were
veried by a test data set with a series of design examples generated randomly based on these

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Set up initial ranges of

design parameters
1. Randomly generate design parameters
2. Obtain structural responses through
dynamic analysis
Construct a
study data set
Attain knowledge rules of modified design
ranges through entropy-based classification
Generate a
test data set
Verify the acceptable level of the
knowledge rules
Plot time-histories and

response spectra
Figure 1. Steps of the entire study.
rules. In addition, 10 Chi-Chi earthquake records of surrounding stations (shown in Figure 2)

were used as different input forces of the base isolation systems, respectively. These verications
ensured that the outcomes were informative.
DEVELOPMENT OF A STUDY DATA SET OF BASE-ISOLATED MACHINERY

DESIGNS
An LRB base-isolated two degrees of freedom (DOF) machinery (Figure 3(a)) system is used as
the structural model for the construction of study data set. Figure 3(b) shows the masses m1, m2,
equivalent stiffness k1, k2 and equivalent damping ratios x1 and x2.
Referring to the New Zealand Ministry of Works and Development [22], the stiffness of LRB
devices in the horizontal direction is assumed to be bilinear (Figure 4) and has the following
mechanical properties:

Gr Ar
Al
Kd
1 12
4
lr
Ar
Kd aKu
Qd 1 ar fyl Al
6
DOI: 10.1002/stc
20
80
-0.33
0
100
20
40
60
80
20
40
60
80
TCU100
-0.33
20
40
60
80
-0.33
20
40
60
Time (sec)
100
20
40
60
80
100
Time (sec)
TCU061
-0.33
0
100
0.33
TCU100
80
20
40
60
80
100
Time (sec)
Time (sec)
0.33
0.33
TCU056
TCU061
60
TCU053
TCU050
TCU048
TCU057 TCU051
TCU057
40
Time (sec)
-0.33
100
Time (sec)
0.33
20
TCU056
Acceleration (g)
TCU104
TCU105
0.33
Central Science Park

-0.33
TCU051
-0.33
0
100
Time (sec)
4km
TCU053
Acceleration (g)
Acceleration (g)
Acceleration (g)
60
Time (sec)
0.33
Acceleration (g)
40
TCU050
80
0.33
TCU104
-0.33
100
0
20
40
60
Time (sec)
80
Acceleration (g)
Acceleration (g)
-0.33
Acceleration (g)
0.33
0.33
TCU048
Acceleration (g)
Acceleration (g)
0.33
TCU105
-0.33
100
0
20
40
60
Time (sec)
80
100
Figure 2. Stations and associate Chi-Chi earthquake records around Central Science Park in Taiwan.
where a is a ratio of stiffness after yielding (Kd) to that before yielding (Ku) in LRB devices with
yield strength Qd. The parameters of Gr, Ar, lr and ar denote the shear modulus of elasticity, area
under pressure, net height and strain hardening coefcient of the rubber layers in LRB devices,
respectively. The parameters Al and fyl represent the section area and yield stress of the lead
plug-in LRB devices, respectively. The equivalent damping ratio (xe) of LRB devices can be
derived as

aQd
4Q
d

d
i
1aKd
4Qd di dy

xe
7
2
Q
K
d
d di
2pKeff di
2p
d2
di
where di, dy and Keff indicate the design deformation, yield deformation and effective stiffness of
LRB devices, respectively.

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Mass of
machinery
Equivalent
stiffness of
machinery
m2
Mass of a base and

m1
base isolation devices
Equivalent
stiffness of
base isolation
device
u1
Displacement of base
and base isolation device
Equivalent
damping of
base isolation
device
1
k1
Displacement
of machinery
Equivalent
damping of
machinery
2
k2
u2
g
(a)
Earthquake-induced ground motions
(b)
Figure 3. (a) Precision machinery and (b) base-isolated structural model.
Force
Kd
Qd
fyl
Ku
Displacement
dy
di
Keff
Figure 4. The forcedisplacement relationship of LRB devices.
This study further assumes that all the designs have the following characteristics: (1) the LRB
devices are xed on the base mounted below the precision machinery; (2) the horizontal stiffness
of the machinery is assumed to be elastic; (3) the damping ratio of the machinery system is 0.02
and (4) rocking and vertical vibrations of the machinery system are prevented.
In an information system, in general, two parts (1) attributes and (2) decisions are
incorporated into the information table. It can be presented as follows:
Attributes: Based on the above assumptions, four independent design parameters (m1/m2,
k1/k2, a and Qd) are used to describe the mechanical properties of the LRB base-isolated
machinery systems. These four parameters are generated randomly in practical ranges during
design procedures, and assigned to the attributes in the study data set.

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Decision: Three basic system responses are assigned to the decisions in the study data set:
(A) Energy dissipation of LRB devices, (B) the maximum relative displacement of LRB devices
(u1;max , m), and (C) the maximum acceleration response of machinery (u2;max , m/s2). Among
these decisions, B and C can be attained directly through numerical analysis. Besides, a ratio
of the hysteretic energy dissipated by LRB devices to the earthquake-induced input energy
(ELRB/Ein) is dened as the decision of A. Specically, decision A suggests the capacity of the
LRB device to absorb earthquake-induced input energy of the structural system. The parameter
of ELRB can be obtained by summing the area of the hysteresis loops of LRB devices, and Ein is
dened by the following equation:
Z u
Ein
M u g t du
8
0
where M and u are the mass and relative displacement of the structural system, and ug t is the
ground acceleration.
ENTROPY-BASED CLASSIFICATION CONCEPT

A classication approach based on the Shannon entropy is introduced to search the
relationships between attributes (or design parameters) and decisions (or the structural
responses) in the study data set. The basic concepts of classication are (1) quantifying the
disordered degree (Shannon entropy) between attributes and decisions and (2) obtaining the
appropriate ranges of attributes to achieve the better category of decision based on the lower
value of entropy.
An example is given to clarify the procedures of entropy-based classication. Table I shows a
concerned study data set of 10 data (x1 to x10 in column (a)) with an attribute (column (b)) and a
corresponding decision (column (c)). The detailed calculation procedures of entropy-based
classication techniques are shown in the following steps.
In the rst step, the data attributes are sorted in an ascending order.
Second, a ctitious cutting point (FCP(t)) is dened as the mean values of two different
attribute values from column (e) of Table I, and t represents the ID number of the ctitious
cutting point. The parameter FCP(t) divides the attributes into two different classes (attribute
classes): attribute-class 1 means that the attribute value is smaller than FCP(t) and attributeclass 2 indicates that it is larger than FCP(t). In a real database, it is possible that two data have
the same attribute classes with different decision classes. It can be considered that one of them is
a noise data. Therefore, in this case, there may be different values of entropy with regard to the
data of the two attribute classes. The values of entropy can be calculated by the following
equation:
entropytj
2
X
pijtj log2 pijtj
i1
where i is the decision class (1 or 2 in this example), j the attribute class and pijtj the
probability of data for decision-class i in the data for attribute-class j. For instance,
pi 2jt 3j1 represents the probability of the data for decision-class 2 in the data for the
attribute value smaller than FCP(3) (attribute-class 1). However, pijtj 0 is assigned as
pijtj log2 pijtj 0.

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table I. An example of entropy-based classication.

Attribute mi
Decision
Attribute of FCP(t)
IG(t)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
x1
1
1
2.0
0.108
x2
2
5.0y
0.236z
x3
2
3
8.0
0.035
x4
1
4
10.0
0.125
x5
11
1
5
13.0
0.278
x6
15
2
6
19.0
0.125
x7
23
1
7
26.5
0.396
x8
30
2
8
33.0
0.236
x9
36
2
9
38.0
0.108
x10
40
Data
t 5 2.
y
FCP(2) 5 5.0. FCP(2) is the mean value of 3 and 7. That is, the cutting point is 5, which divides mio5 and mi45 into
two parts.
z
The entropy-based classication of FCP(2) is given in Table II.
Entropy is an index of disorderliness among decisions and attributes. The values of entropy,
herein, vary from 1.0 to 0.0. For instance, there are one opaque box and 10 balls (containing ve
white balls and ve black balls). If these 10 balls are put into the box, the probability of selecting
a black ball the rst time is only 0.5. That is, it is difcult to ensure the color of the rst selected
ball. Mathematically, the entropy is then used to describe the disorder level of the rst selected
black ball:
entropytfirst
selected black ball
0:5 log2 0:5black
balls
0:5 log2 0:5white
balls
1:0
If only black balls are put into the box, the color of the rst selected ball from the box is
undoubtedly black, and the entropy of the rst selected black ball is
entropytfirst
selected black balll
1:0 log2 1:0black
balls
0:0 log2 0:0white
balls
0:0
In other words, when entropytj is 1.0, it means the attribute class (the black-and-white balls in
the box) has only a 50% of chance of making the right decision (selecting a black ball). If
entropytj is 0.0, it signals that the attribute class is 100% related to the decision class.
Therefore, it is expected that one obtains a smaller value of entropytj in each attribute class.
Another concept of information gain (IG) is then introduced following the concept of
entropy. IG can be computed by the following equation:
igtj 1:0 entropytj
10
DOI: 10.1002/stc
Referring to entropytj , the values of igtj also vary from 0.0 to 1.0. It has to be noted that the
values of igtj are contrary to entropy and are in accordance with the tendency of the attributeclass proportion in the study data set. In the next step, a given FCP(t) can be derived to the
proportion of each attribute class. It can be consequently multiplied by igtj to obtain the result
of IG(t) as the following equation:
IGt
2
X
Pjjt igtj
11
j1
where P(j|t) is the proportion of data for attribute-class j to all of the data.
Therefore, the index of IG(t) used in this study can be considered as a measurable value of the
assessment for a given FCP(t). The larger IG(t) means the better choice of FCP(t). That is, in
computing a series of IG(t), we selected the largest IG(t) to display the best relationships
between attributes and decisions.
For example, IG(2) (t 5 2 and FCP(2) 5 5.0 in columns (d) and (e) of Table I) is cited as
follows and is shown in Table II:
(1) In column (b) of Table I, there are two (x1 and x2) and eight (x3 to x10) data that fall into
attribute-class 1 (the data for attribute value smaller than FCP(2) with j 5 1) and
attribute-class 2 (for those larger than FCP(2) with j 5 2), respectively. That is,
Pj 1jt 2 0:2 and P2j2 0:8, as shown in column (c) of Table II.
(2) A(i,j) (from column (d) of Table II) is the number of data for conditions of i and j. Both
the above-mentioned data (x1 and x2) for attribute-class 1 fall into decision-class 1, but no
data fall into decision-class 2. Thus, Ai 1; j 1 2 and A2; 1 0. Moreover,
A1; 2 3 represents the data of x4, x5, and x7 and A2; 2 5 represents the data of x3,
x6, x8, x9 and x10.
(3) Attribute-class 1 (j 5 1) has two data (x1 and x2). Both these data satisfy i 5 1. Therefore,
the ratio pi 1jt 2j1 2=2 0 1:0 in column (e) of Table II. Additionally,
p2j21 0=2 0 0. Using the same procedure, p1j22 3=3 5 0:375 and
p2j22 5=3 5 0:625.
(4) Columns (f)(h) are based on Equations (9)(11).
Steps (1)(4) are repeated to attain the rest of the values on IG(t) with respect to different
conditions of FCP(t). These results are shown in column (f) of Table I. Among these results,
IG(7) is the biggest one; hence, FCP(7) 5 26.5 denotes the optimal cutting point. Table I shows
Table II. Entropy-based classication of FCP(2) of Table I.

Description
j
(a)
1
2
P(j|t)
A(i,j)
p(i|t)j
Entropy(t)j
ig(t)j
IG(t)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
1
2
1
2
0.2
2
0
3
5
1.0
0
0.375
0.625
0.8
1.0
0.954
0.046
0.236

DOI: 10.1002/stc
that the majority of decision falls into class 1 if the attribute value is located between 1 and 26.5.
Additionally, the decision class is 2 when the attribute value is larger than 26.5. Accordingly,
knowledge rules for the appropriate range of attributes to achieve the expected decision classes
are obtained.
EXAMPLE OF CALCULATION
This calculation example has two steps: (1) the development of a study data set with the design
parameters and the structural responses obtained through step-by-step integration of numerical
analysis and (2) the application on entropy-based classication techniques to obtain the
knowledge rule of appropriate ranges of design parameters from the study data set.
A study data set was built initially by 25 design cases containing the four design parameters
(m1/m2, k1/k2, a and Qd) generated randomly in practical ranges [10] (0:15om1 =m2 o0:3,
0:15ok1 =k2 o0:3, 0:15oao0:3 and 15oQd o30 kN). Besides, the three system responses
(ELRB =Ein , u1;max and u2;max ) are computed through the dynamic analysis of the two DOF
system subjected to Chi-Chi earthquake excitation recorded by station TCU053. Table III
shows an example of the study data set for the attributes (columns (b)(e)) and the decision
(column (f)). To simplify this example and to clarify the processes of entropy-based
classication, only the response ELRB =Ein is demonstrated as the decision in this section. A
cutting point of the decision is assumed to be the average value (0.288) of column (f). The
decision class is then dened based on this cutting point with 1 for the smaller value of decision
and 2 for the larger value of decision (as shown in column (g)). The objectives of this study are
to allocate the proper cutting point of attribute and to select the suitable attribute class (as the
appropriate range), and then the results of decision class mostly fall on 2 (the larger energy ratio
of ELRB =Ein ).
To allocate the appropriate ranges of design parameters, the attributes of m1/m2, k1/k2, a and
Qd are rst assumed to be independent. The attribute in the aforementioned example of entropybased classication (column (b) of Table I) can then be replaced by each one of these four
attributes (columns (b)(e) of Table III) and the decision (column (c) of Table I) of each
attribute is all referred to column (g) of Table III. Finally, the optimal cutting point of each
attribute can be obtained by an entropy-based classication. In Table III, the results of optimal
cutting points for the attributes of m1/m2, k1/k2, a and Qd are 0.264, 0.249, 0.270 and 22.8 kN,
respectively. Table IV presents the classied results based on these optimal cutting points, with
attribute-class 1 for the smaller value of attribute and 2 for the larger value of attribute.
Table V presents a statistic result to assess the appropriate attribute class for the objective of
decision-class 2 (the larger energy ratio of ELRB/Ein). In this table, column (a) shows the
attributes; columns (b) and (c) list the classes of attribute and decision, individually; and column
(d) presents the number of data for the conditions of columns (b) and (c). For instance, there are
no data in Table IV for attribute-class 2 of m1/m2 and decision-class 1. Additionally, there are
four data (x14, x16, x19 and x21) for attribute-class 2 of m1/m2 and decision-class 2. The proper
choice in column (e) on the attribute class is dened as the majority of the portion of decisionclass 2. Finally, the modied ranges of attributes (where columns (f) and (g) also show the initial
ranges as the comparisons) can be obtained by considering the initial practical ranges, the
optimal cutting points and the proper choices of attribute class. These modied ranges are much

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table III. An example of the study data set.

Attribute
Data
k1/k2
Qd
Decision
ELRB/Ein
Decision class
m1/m2
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
x1
x2
x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
x8
x9
x10
x11
x12
x13
x14
x15
x16
x17
x18
x19
x20
x21
x22
x23
x24
x25
0.187
0.167
0.239
0.219
0.220
0.249
0.202
0.183
0.182
0.222
0.190
0.247
0.176
0.273
0.205
0.285
0.231
0.254
0.293
0.193
0.292
0.248
0.174
0.166
0.195
0.215
0.226
0.178
0.228
0.200
0.249
0.178
0.185
0.248
0.168
0.181
0.198
0.178
0.299
0.279
0.186
0.177
0.278
0.174
0.295
0.172
0.177
0.271
0.257
0.193
0.292
0.188
0.243
0.245
0.296
0.292
0.279
0.186
0.284
0.203
0.292
0.236
0.273
0.243
0.256
0.262
0.252
0.297
0.190
0.192
0.188
0.250
0.255
0.164
0.266
27.7
16.1
23.5
29.3
29.0
23.7
24.0
26.9
28.6
29.4
29.8
15.1
22.9
24.6
16.2
16.9
22.6
29.4
24.2
20.2
20.3
24.5
27.5
16.4
17.9
0.20
0.45
0.28
0.19
0.21
0.29
0.12
0.20
0.26
0.19
0.15
0.40
0.23
0.29
0.39
0.37
0.33
0.14
0.37
0.43
0.32
0.18
0.34
0.49
0.38
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
smaller than the initial ranges. Further, the modied ranges could provide the effective design
strategy to increase the responses of ELRB/Ein.
A PRACTICAL CASE STUDY

In the previous example, in the rst stage, a limited number of design examples in the study data
set were generated, and one of the system responses (ELRB/Ein) was sampled as the decision. The
study data set was then analyzed through an entropy-based classication for a series of
questionable knowledge rules (modied ranges of design variables). In this section, four
questions arise from the knowledge rules:
(1) Are the processes of entropy-based classication feasible for the different decisions (ELRB/
Ein, u1;max and u2;max ) in the study data set?
(2) How much data in the study data set are adequate for gaining reliable knowledge rules?
(3) How is the reliability of the knowledge rules assessed?
(4) Is the entropy-based classication applicable to other different excitations?

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table IV. Classied results of Table III through the Shannon entropy.
Attribute class
Data
Decision class
m1/m2
k1/k2
Qd
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
x1
x2
x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
x8
x9
x10
x11
x12
x13
x14
x15
x16
x17
x18
x19
x20
x21
x22
x23
x24
x25
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
In this section, all the three system responses will be used for the rst question. Also, three
different numbers of study data sets (containing numbers 25, 50 and 100) with 10 repeating
generations in each number are used to consider the second question. Then, a test data set
containing 200 design examples were randomly generated based on the knowledge rules (the
proper ranges of design parameters obtained from analyzing the study data sets) to discuss the
third question. An articial index of Pfailure is dened as the percentage of the data in the test
data set for the failure predictions on the decision classes. The proper decision classes for an
effective isolator of ELRB/Ein, u1;max and u2;max are herein assumed to be 2, 2 and 1, respectively.
That is, larger system responses of ELRB/Ein and u1;max and smaller responses of u2;max are
expected. The lower Pfailure in the test data set indicates a better combination of design variables.
Table VI presents the results of Pfailure from the base-isolated system subjected to the
excitation of TCU053. The results of the three system responses are included in this table.
Column (a) of Table VI shows the different numbers of study data sets. Row (a) shows the 10
repeating generations in each number of the study data set.
In Table VI, the Pfailure values of ELRB/Ein show reliable results. About 90% of the decisions
in the test data set (generated from the proper ranges of the design parameters) exceed the
average of the decisions in the study data set. In addition, most Pfailure results of the repeating
generations from the 25 data in the study data set are acceptable compared with those from the

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table V. Strategies of attribute classes for decision-class 2 in Table IV.

Conditions
Attribute
(a)
Modied range
Attribute class
Decision class
Number of data for

the conditions
Choice
Min.
Max.
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
12
9
0
4
11
7
1
6
5
12
7
1
0
9
14
2
m1/m2
2
k1/k2
1
2
1
2
Qd (kN)
1
2
0.264
(0.15)
0.3
(0.3)
0.249
(0.15)
0.15
(0.15)
0.3
(0.3)
0.27
(0.3)
15.0
(15.0)
22.8
(30.0)
Initial range.
Table VI. The Pfailure from different data numbers of the study data set.
Decision
(a)
10
ELRB/Ein
25
50
100
25
50
100
25
50
100
0.06
0.05
0.12
0.33
0.33
0.53
0.18
0.38
0.04
0.02
0.09
0.08
0.69
0.41
0.59
0.29
0.05
0.16
0.01
0.09
0.06
0.56
0.44
0.44
0.26
0.02
0.02
0.01
0.01
0.03
0.40
0.43
0.56
0.20
0.03
0.15
0.05
0.06
0.02
0.31
0.32
0.25
0.02
0.18
0.11
0.07
0.23
0.08
0.44
0.31
0.36
0.30
0.10
0.30
0.10
0.02
0.11
0.47
0.58
0.33
0.24
0.08
0.02
0.09
0.15
0.02
0.26
0.41
0.43
0.14
0.03
0.04
0.25
0.05
0.15
0.45
0.56
0.36
0.25
0.13
0.46
0.13
0.20
0.06
0.38
0.40
0.30
0.08
0.04
0.15
u1;max (m)
u2;max (m/s2)
Pfailure is the percentage of the data in the test data set for the failure predictions on the decision classes.
numbers of 50 and 100 data. Although the Pfailure of u1;max and u2;max are larger than ELRB/Ein
and, respectively, achieve about 50 and 30%, all these results indicate that 25 data in the study
data set are feasible compared with the results of the 50 and 100 data. Even if the rst generation
of the 25 data fails to meet this requirement, it is easy to ensure the acceptable results in solid
numbers of generations.
Another assessing index (Increment) to the test data is then dened and discussed as the
following equation:
Increment
Decavg;test Decavg;study
100%
Decavg;study
DOI: 10.1002/stc
where Decavg;study and Decavg;test are the average values of decisions (the values of ELRB/Ein,
u1;max or u2;max ) in the study data set and the test data set, respectively. The Increment points out
the increment percentage for the system responses in the isolation system designed by the
modied ranges to the initial ranges. Referring to the assumed proper decision classes of each
decision, it is considered that the values of Increment are positive for ELRB/Ein and u1;max and
negative for u2;max . That is, the larger values of ELRB/Ein and u1;max (for decision-class 2) and the
smaller values of u2;max (for decision-class 1) are expected to obtain a better design of an isolator.
Table VII presents the results of Increment. The design cases from the modied ranges of
design parameters could provide more than 30% of ELRB/Ein to the designs from the initial
ranges. Besides, the Increment for u2;max is about 5%. The deviations in Increment of u1;max for
the different generations are not good enough; therefore, the detailed values of Decavg;study and
Decavg;test for 25 data for each decision are further discussed and presented in Table VIII.
Table VIII presents the values of Decavg;study in u1;max for the different generations located at a
large range from about 0.09 to 0.11 m, but the modied results of Decavg;test are almost larger
than 0.12 m. The Decavg;study of u 2;max is located between about 4.5 and 4.6 m/s2, but the values of
Decavg;test are almost less than 4.4 m/s2. The Decavg;study of ELRB/Ein is located between about
0.28 and 0.36, but the values of Decavg;test are nearly larger than 0.4. Therefore, even if the values
of Pfailure in u1;max are not good enough, the results of Increment are still acceptable. That is, 25
data generated randomly in a study data set is acceptable, the tests of the three different
decisions are feasible and the modied ranges of design parameters obtained from entropybased classication are applicable to the designs of base-isolated machinery systems.
The above processes discussed the front three questions. The last examination is the
condition for several different excitations of the isolation system. Thus, 10 records of the ChiChi earthquake (normalized to 0.33 g) are taken from seismology stations around a science park
in Taiwan. These input forces are used in the procedures to obtain the respective study data sets
(containing 25 data) for the three system responses. The corresponding test data sets (including
200 data) for the study data sets are then processed for the results of Pfailure and Increment as
presented in Table IX.
In Table IX, column (a) shows the IDs of the record stations. Columns (b)(g) present the
results of Increment and Pfailure in the three decisions of system responses. Most of these results
are obtained in the rst generation of the study data set. Only a few results are obtained from
the second or the third generations. These results show that the values of Increment are reliable
Table VII. The Increment (%) from different data numbers of the study data set.
Decision
(a)
10
ELRB/Ein
25
50
100
25
50
100
25
50
100
32.0
34.6
22.1
44.7
35.0
14.5
7.2
3.1
12.1
41.0
25.4
22.2
5.6
18.5
3.5
4.4
10.8
6.7
43.5
23.0
25.9
7.2
24.9
21.7
3.7
11.7
10.6
32.4
41.2
32.0
18.8
18.4
4.0
4.5
11.2
6.2
37.9
25.0
49.7
38.1
43.1
51.2
13.0
7.1
8.6
25.7
20.9
32.5
25.8
47.6
34.2
3.5
8.1
4.5
17.0
30.3
26.7
22.1
1.1
40.3
4.9
7.3
10.9
28.3
23.9
40.4
51.4
24.8
24.8
7.0
11.4
10.1
10.2
27.4
20.7
24.8
4.7
31.8
4.8
8.1
1.5
30.3
18.5
29.4
30.4
28.0
38.5
9.2
10.4
7.9
u1;max (m)
u2;max (m/s2)
Increment is the increment percentage for the system responses from the modied ranges of design variables to the initial
ranges.

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table VIII. The Decavg;study and Decavg;test for the case of 25 data in Table VII.
Decision
(a)
10
ELRB/Ein
Decavg;study
Decavg;test
Decavg;study
Decavg;test
Decavg;study
Decavg;test
0.316
0.417
0.089
0.128
4.626
4.295
0.288
0.406
0.102
0.096
4.587
4.384
0.297
0.426
0.102
0.109
4.591
4.422
0.320
0.423
0.095
0.113
4.596
4.391
0.284
0.392
0.089
0.123
4.552
3.959
0.320
0.402
0.104
0.131
4.395
4.242
0.357
0.418
0.104
0.128
4.574
4.348
0.304
0.391
0.111
0.168
4.487
4.174
0.318
0.351
0.099
0.123
4.556
4.337
0.310
0.404
0.106
0.138
4.630
4.206
u1;max (m)
u2;max (m/s2)
Dec
avg;study
and Decavg;test are the average values of the decisions in the study data set and the test data set.
Table IX. The Increment and Pfailure from different excitations.

ELRB/Ein
Station (TCU)
u2;max (m/s2)
u1;max (m)
Increment (%)
Pfailure
Increment (%)
Pfailure
Increment (%)
Pfailure
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
048
050
051
053
056
057
061
100
104
105
15.7
22.3
21.6
32.9
18.0
9.9
11.5
17.7
14.5
21.3
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.08
0.06
0.06
0.13
0.02
0.03
0.02
27.6
20.7
22.1
36.8
18.8
9.8
23.0
27.3
20.5
32.3
0.37
0.40
0.26
0.37
0.44
0.44
0.29
0.28
0.34
0.31
8.1
7.4
7.2
12.6
6.7
7.7
11.1
3.7
19.3
9.3
0.07
0.07
0.06
0.02
0.10
0.13
0.03
0.19
0.06
0.08
in the three decisions, but the values of Pfailure for u1;max are not good enough. This issue was
discussed in the previous questions and the other index of Increment is then considered. The
Increment of u1;max shows the ability of raising the displacement of an isolator. Table IX
presents the base-isolation designs by modied ranges through entropy-based classication,
which can effectively increase or decrease system responses for the requirements when the
structural system is subjected to different excitations.
To concisely show the feasibility of entropy-based classication, three cases of the isolation
system subjected to the excitation of TCU053 are compared to note the system responses: (1) a
non-isolated machinery, (2) an improper design case: the base-isolated machinery designed by
the initial ranges of variables but not by the modied ranges and (3) a proper design case: the
base-isolated machinery designed by the modied ranges. The design ranges for the improper
cases and the proper cases are analyzed and listed in Table X (where the ranges of ELRB/Ein were
carried out in columns (f) and (g) of Table V).
Figure 5 shows the variation in energy ratio (ELRB/Ein) of time histories from the baseisolated system subjected to the excitation of TCU053 while the natural period of the nonisolated machinery is 0.3 s. The x-axis represents the time history from 30 to 90 s. The y-axis
represents the energy ratio of ELRB/Ein. This gure has two lines: (1) a thin line for an improper

DOI: 10.1002/stc
Table X. The design ranges for the improper cases and the proper cases.
m1/m2
Decision
(a)
ELRB/Ein
u1;max
u2;max
k1/k2
Qd (kN)
Improper
Proper
Improper
Proper
Improper
Proper
Improper
Proper
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
Min.
Max.
Min.
Max.
Min.
Max.
0.150
0.264
0.208
0.300
0.150
0.182
0.264
0.300
0.150
0.208
0.182
0.300
0.150
0.249
0.172
0.300
0.209
0.300
0.249
0.300
0.150
0.172
0.150
0.209
0.270
0.300
0.230
0.300
0.173
0.300
0.150
0.270
0.150
0.230
0.150
0.173
22.8
30.0
15.0
25.9
21.4
30.0
15.0
22.8
25.9
30.0
15.0
21.4
0.5
0.45
0.4
ELRB /Ein
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
Isolated (an improper case)

Isolated (a proper case)
0.05
0
30
35
40
45
50
55
60 65
Time (s)
70
75
80
85
90
Figure 5. The variation in energy ratio of time-history analysis (TCU053, T 5 0.3).
case with m1/m2 5 0.184, k1/k2 5 0.211, a 5 0.293 and Qd 5 27.2 kN and (2) a thick line for a
proper case with m1/m2 5 0.288, k1/k2 5 0.275, a 5 0.173 and Qd 5 18.1 kN. In Figure 5, the case
in the thick line shows better performance of energy dissipation by the LRB devices than for the
thin line.
Figures 6 and 7 show the time histories of isolator deformation and machinery acceleration
for the three cases (the responses of the non-isolated machinery are shown as a dash line in
Figure 7). The natural period of case 1 (non-isolated machinery) used here is 0.3 s. It is found
that the proper case (thick line) has larger maximum deformation (u1;max ) and lower maximum
acceleration (u2;max ) than the improper case (thin line) following the objectives of this study. In
addition, the machinery acceleration responses of isolated machinery are much lower than the
non-isolated machinery.
A more practical study on the response spectrum is further discussed for the cases of
TCU053. Figures 810 show the response spectra of ELRB/Ein, u1;max and u2;max for the improper

DOI: 10.1002/stc
0.12
Isolator Displacement (m)
0.08
0.04
-0.04
-0.08
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
Time (s)
44
46
48
50
Figure 6. Time histories of isolator deformation (TCU053, T 5 0.3).
Machinery Acceleration (m/s2)

Non-isolated
4
-4
-8
40
42
44
46
48
50
Time (s)
Figure 7. Time histories of machinery acceleration (TCU053, T 5 0.3).
and the proper cases. Besides, the machinery deformation response spectra for the improper
case and the proper case are also drawn in Figure 9 (the thin dash line and the thick dash lines).
In these gures, the x-axes are the natural periods of the non-isolated machinery. Owing to (1)
the natural period of non-isolated machinery used herein is 0.3 and (2) the values of ELRB/Ein
and u2;max between the proper and the improper cases at the period of 0.9 s are nearly the same,
the values of x-axes are limited between 0.1 and 0.9 s.
Figures 810 clearly show that as the natural period of non-isolated machinery is lower than
0.5 s, the proper case has better performances on the responses of ELRB/Ein, u1;max , u2;max and the

DOI: 10.1002/stc
0.9
0.8
0.7
ELRB /Ein
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Nature period of non-isolated machinery (s)
0.8
0.9
Figure 8. Energy ratio response spectra of TCU053.

0.6
Isolator defomation (an improper case)
Isolator defomation (a proper case)
Machinery defomation (an improper case)
Machinery defomation (a proper case)
Maximum Deformation (m)
0.5
0.4
0.06
0.04
0.3
0.02
0
0.2
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Figure 9. Maximum isolator deformation response spectra of TCU053.
maximum deformation of machinery simultaneously. In addition, if the response spectra for the
periods (non-isolated machinery) are higher than 0.5 s, a series of new case studies must be
generated to attain better design ranges.
CONCLUSIONS
This study proposed an entropy-based classication procedure to allocate proper ranges of
design variables in the designs of isolation systems. A case study based on an LRB base-isolated

DOI: 10.1002/stc
7.2
Maximum Machinery Acceleration (m/s2)
6.8
6.4
6
5.6
5.2
4.8
4.4
4
3.6
3.2
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Figure 10. Maximum machinery acceleration response spectra of TCU053.
machinery system subjected to Chi-Chi earthquake nearby the Central Science Park is
considered. This paper draws the following conclusions.
Three system responses of ELRB/Ein (the ratio of the energy dissipating by LRB to input
energy), u1;max (the maximum relative displacement of LRB devices) and u2;max (the maximum
acceleration response of machinery) are used as the indexes of the system responses. Entropybased classication can effectively decrease or increase these system responses by modifying the
initial ranges of design parameters and allocating the proper ranges.
The study shows that 25 data (design examples) randomly generated in the study data set for
the analysis of entropy-based classication attain a concise and feasible manner of achieving the
acceptable results of the three system responses. It is also found that more than 25 data in the
analysis process (entropy-based classication) are surplus.
Ten different earthquake-induced excitations recorded around a science park are used for the
input forces of the isolation system. The applicable levels on the knowledge rules obtained from
the design cases with different input forces are then veried.
The system responses of ELRB/Ein, u1;max and u 2;max in a base-isolated machinery can
effectively improve our understanding through the designs from the proper ranges of design
parameters. In the results of this case study, ELRB/Ein shows the best outcomes for following the
design philosophy. That is, ELRB/Ein plays a vital role in preliminary design range for the
isolation system.
NOMENCLATURE
m1
m2
k1
mass of machinery
mass of a base and base isolation devices
equivalent stiffness of base isolation devices

DOI: 10.1002/stc
k2
x1
x2
Kd
Gr
Al
lr
Ar
a
Ku
Qd
ar
fyl
xe
di
dy
Keff
ELRB
Ein
M
u
ug t
u1;max
u2;max
FCP(t)
t
i
j
entropy(t)j
IG(t)
P(j|t)
p(i|t)j
A(i,j)
Pfailure
Increment
Decavg;study
Decavg;test
equivalent stiffness of machinery

equivalent damping of base isolation devices
equivalent damping of machinery
post-elastic stiffness in the horizontal direction of LRB devices
shear modulus of elasticity of the rubber layers in LRB devices
section area of the lead plug in LRB devices
net height of the rubber layers in LRB devices
area under pressures of the rubber layers in LRB devices
ratio of stiffness after yielding to that before yielding in LRB devices
elastic stiffness in the horizontal direction of LRB devices
yield strength of LRB devices
strain harden coefcient of the rubber layers in LRB devices
yield stress of the lead plug in LRB devices
equivalent damping ratio of LRB devices
design deformation of LRB devices
yield deformation of LRB devices
effective stiffness of LRB devices
hysteretic energy dissipated by LRB devices
earthquake-induced input energy
mass of the structure
relative displacement
ground acceleration
maximum relative displacement of LRB devices
maximum acceleration response of machinery
ctitious cutting point
ID number of the ctitious cutting point
decision class
attribute class
Shannon entropy based on t and j
information gain based on t
proportion of data for attribute-class j to all of the data
probability of data for decision-class i in the data for attribute-class j
number of data for conditions of i and j
percentage of the failure predictions on the target decision-classes
increment percentage for the system responses from the modied ranges
of design variables to the initial ranges
average values of the decisions in the study data set
average values of the decisions in the test data set
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors appreciate the nancial support from the National Science Council project (95-2415-H-275001) and (95-2221-E-005-121). In addition, the native English editor of K. T. Lee foundations helped in
modifying the paper.

DOI: 10.1002/stc
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DOI: 10.1002/stc

A Novel Method of Searching Appropriate Ranges of Base Isolation

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A Novel Method of Searching Appropriate Ranges of Base Isolation

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STRUCTURAL CONTROL AND HEALTH MONITORING

Struct. Control Health Monit. (2008)