Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to structural high load bearings, specifically bearings designed with elastomeric material used to transfer vertical loads and accommodate structural rotation.
This invention relates to bearings used to support large horizontal and vertical structural loads, i.e. high load bearings. Bearings typically contain some mechanism to allow for rotation of the structure above. Often a pliable material such as elastomer is employed to perform this function. All high load bearings employ some mechanism to prevent the elastomeric pad material from becoming overstressed. This invention employs a new method to prevent material overstressing, in turn allowing it to perform in a functionally superior manner to other bearing types.
This type of bearing, relies on both the structural strength of the material itself, and additional support from a surrounding wall to place the material in such a state of stress and geometric configuration that allows the bearing to increase its capacity for load, deflection, material strain, and rotation over existing bearing types.
2. Prior Art
The inherent strength of an elastomeric pad can be loosely defined as the compression at which damage occurs for a pad that is squeezed between frictionless plates. The elastomeric elements used in high load bearings would be excessively large if only their inherent strength were used, hence methods have been devised to maintain a stress state within the working limits of the material. Three common methods of elastomeric confinement are detailed below. All three have limitations in the load and rotation capacities, as well as vertical compliance. Because of its novel partial confinement, the bearing of this invention extends the limitations currently experienced on these three other approaches.
Pot, or floating, bearings (Klaw et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,339) are an example of an elastomer being used in a situation where the loads are much greater than the elastomer's inherent material strength. If equal, or nearly equal compressive stress is applied to a cube of the material in all directions, its von Mises stresses, e.g. the stresses tending to destroy the material, are small. This is because the stresses in the materials 3 principle stress directions are nearly equal, and the material is said to be in a hydrostatic stress state. Any one of the stresses alone would be enough to damage the elastomer, but when large stresses are applied nearly equally in all directions, distortion, and hence, damage, is prevented. This hydrostatic stress state is produced by configuring the elastomeric disc to fit tightly within the confines of the pot. A circumferential sealing ring is used around the top of the discs periphery in an attempt to maintain the hydrostatic stress state. Many different seal types have been proposed, some rigid (Andra et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,068), and some flexible (Koester et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,789), some of them fairly elaborate (Andra et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,752). But the end function is the same, to tightly seal the load bearing elastomeric pad such that a hydrostatic stress state can be produced upon loading. This is a fully confined elastomer, it can accommodate high vertical loads, and is very stiff in the vertical direction. Relative to other high load bearing types, it has questionable rotational fatigue performance, with many field failures occurring over the years. With cyclic rotation the sealing ring wears over time and the elastomer is no longer able to maintain its hydrostatic stress state, eventually leaking out the sides of the elastomer chamber. The bearing can accommodate low cycle rotation well, with service load rotations limited to about 0.03 radians. Thus for moderate to high fatigue rotation demands and/or cases were vertical flexibility is a desirable trait, this bearing has significant limitations.
Reinforced elastomeric bearing pads utilize a material (natural rubber or neoprene) stressed to a level that is higher than its inherent material strength, but on the order of half that of pot bearings. The stresses are large enough to cause the material to expand outward excessively and fail without some form of restraint, hence various mechanisms have been devised to restrain elastomeric expansion, including bonding the upper and lower surfaces can to steel, and embedding rings in the elastomer hoops (Hein et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,852). The effect is to limit vertical deflection and provide a hydrostatic stress state around the central region of the bearing. In order to limit vertical deflection and shear stresses in the rubber pad, only thin layers of rubber can be used. Typical shape factors, the ratio of the loaded to bulge areas, are between 10 and 20. A thin layer of elastomer cannot accommodate structural rotation well, hence many of these layers are stacked to form a laminate of rubber and steel. Characteristics include high vertical stiffness, maximum allowable rotation on the order of 0.01 radians, and large plan area, max vertical loads of approximately 1600 kN. Thus for moderate to high service rotation demands, high loads, and/or cases were vertical flexibility is a desirable trait, this bearing has significant limitations.
Reinforced elastomeric bearings can be designed to display enough lateral flexibility to be effective in serving as a high frequency vibration absorber, e.g. for frequencies above 5.0 Hz (Coble et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,911,207). However for seismic protection, where the bearing has to be flexible enough to shift the natural frequency of the structure to less than 1.0 Hz, bearings must be on the order of 25 times more flexible. The bearing is inherently much more flexible in the lateral direction than the vertical direction, and it is only possible to produce this level of flexibility in the horizontal direction (Fyfe U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,474, Robinson U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,637), without the bearings becoming too tall and unstable.
Disc bearings (Fyfe et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,573) are an example of an application where the material is being compressed to a level in scale with the material's inherent strength. Like the steel reinforced elastomeric bearing, it too is restrained on both of its top and bottom surfaces to restrain lateral expansion. However, it need not be thinly layered, typical shape factors are around 2.0. The elastomeric element, polyurethane, is on the order of 10 times stiffer than typical black rubbers (neoprene or natural rubber) used in elastomeric pads and pot bearings. The inherent material strength allows it to function without having to be placed in a hydrostatic stress state (such as in the pot bearing), or be configured to have high shape factor layers with steel bonded surfaces (as in a steel reinforced elastomeric bearing). A low shape factor disc geometry with friction bonded top and bottom surfaces has proven to work well. The bearing can accommodate both high fatigue and service rotations, as well as high horizontal and vertical loads. It is of moderate vertical stiffness. However, for situations were very high rotations (rotations above 0.03 radians), very high horizontal loads (horizontal loads above 50% of the vertical), or soft vertical compliance the elastomeric element either cannot be designed to perform to specification, or if it can it becomes too large and uneconomical to produce.
A bearing similar to the disc bearing (Fyfe U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,240) has an inner elastomeric ring surrounding its centrally located shear pin, ostensibly to assist in bearing rotation without the added expense of machined shear pin joint, however this configuration cannot withstand high horizontal loads without material damage, and does nothing to address the high elastomeric pad stresses due to pad rotation.
Currently there exists no economical high load bearing elastomeric solution to very high rotational capacity demand (service>0.030 radians, and fatigue>0.015 radians) and/or soft vertical compliance (e.g. for seismic vibration mitigation).
The bearing in this invention combines the bearing pad's inherent material strength and partial confinement of the pad to resist vertical loads and subsequently increase capabilities. With the appropriate configuration, damaging tensile stresses can be removed from the bulk of the elastomer.
This has many practical advantages. For example, the bearing can be configured to undergo very large vertical displacements before causing material duress in the pad. If the top and bottom surfaces have low coefficients of friction, the material is free to expand until it hits the sidewalls, giving it a stiffening spring characteristic, as well as allowing for large compression deflections. Housing walls can also be used to prevent excessive material creep. Lower tensile stresses and use of thicker material means very large rotations can be achieved without overstressing the material or causing excessive bearing eccentricity.
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the described elsewhere in this patent, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
Further objects and advantages are to provide a bearing that can accomplish all of the above and yet still be inexpensive to manufacture, which can be pre-compressed to limit deflection if need be, which can increase bearing robustness, reliability, and vertical load margin. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention a high load structural bearing comprising a high strength elastomer located inside an unsealed housing with a top closure plate and a bottom base plate.
FIGS. 7A and 7B—Shows unloaded and loaded elevations of the preferred embodiment
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
An additional embodiment, a rectangular derivative of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
There are various possibilities with regard to the geometry of the pad in relation to the housing that allow for additional functionalities.
Operation—
τ1zz=−εc1·Ec1 (1)
τ1rr=A (2)
where τ1zz and τ1rr are the vertical and radial stresses at the end of the first phase. εc1 and Ec1 are the phase 1 compressive strain and compressive modulus respectively, while A is the stress magnitude. Another vertical load is applied until load state 2 is reached (
τ2zz=−εc2·Ec2 (3)
τ2rr=−B (4)
where τ2zz and τ2rr are the vertical and radial stresses at the end of the second phase. εc1 and Ec2 are the phase 2 compressive strain and compressive modulus respectively, while B is the stress magnitude.
Adding the two effects together;
τzz=τ1zz+τ2zz=−(εc1·Ec1+εc2·Ec2) (5)
τrr=τ1rr+τ2rr=A−B (6)
where τrr and τzz are the radial and vertical strains respectively. It can be seen that by loading the pad such that B≧A it is possible to remove the tensile stress from this area. Elastomers in general can withstand very large compressive stresses—it's typically the tensile stresses that damage elastomer.
Another perspective of the same effect can be gained from the equations of classical linear elasticity. Radial stress is defined (for a circular pad configuration) as;
τrr=2μ·εrr+λe (7)
where εrr is the radial strain, μ and λ Lame constants, and e the volume dilitation, defined by;
e=εrr+εθθ+εzz (8)
For free expansion, the radial strain quantity, εrr is positive, and e is very small. During phase 2, because of the lateral confinement εrr and εθθ change little, however the vertical strain εzz becomes increasingly negative due to increased compression. The overall effect is to make e increasingly negative with compression. With enough compression, the two right hand side terms in equation (7) equal each other in magnitude but are opposite in sign. At this point the radial strain, τrr, is zero, akin to the case of equation (6) where A=B.
With appropriate pad 7 profile, pad top surface 8, friction on base plate 1, closure plate 3, and the partial confinement action of housing sidewall 3, it is possible to create a stress state in pad 4 such that tensile stresses in the bulk of pad 4 have been removed. As can be observed in
Operation of Alternative Embodiments—
From the description above, a number of advantages of the bearing become evident:
Once design rules are established and analysis efficiencies gained, the bearing should be highly competitive with current bearing types with the improvements of the added functionalities mentioned above.
Accordingly, the reader will see that the bearing of this invention can be manufactured easily, lends itself to greater design flexibility, adds to bearing reliability, and can accommodate loads to a degree not currently possible with other bearing types. In addition, by using a thick pad and engineering the pad to act in partial confinement, the bearing can be made to act as a vertical isolator for dynamic vibration and seismic isolation with a level of flexibility not currently possible with any other structural bearing types. By pre-compressing the pad prior to installation, the bearing can be made to act as a stiff bearing for non-seismic conditions and as a vertical seismic isolation bearing for seismic excitations. These benefits can be achieved with the use of the widely accepted materials of polyurethane and steel (see preferred embodiment), expediting industry acceptance. Furthermore, the bearing of this invention has the additional advantages that
The stress state produced by partial confinement of the pad in the present bearing invention cannot be reached in a pot bearing because the pot bearing elastomer is in a near hydrostatic stress state. Nor can be this state be reached in a disc or reinforced elastomeric bearing, as no rigid sidewall restraint is provided. No other bearing type can achieve this semi-confined state of stress. The semi-confined bearing of this bearing invention can be designed to accommodate loads, rotations, and vertical displacements not possible with other bearing types.
Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the preferred embodiments of this invention. For example it is possible to machine a housing from solid steel to take the place of the combined base plate 1 and housing plate 2, or it is possible to make the bearing pad 4 from a fiber reinforced plastic material. Or, it is possible to fill the pad void 13 with a non-structural soft material, thus superficially eliminating the void, but not eliminating the function of the void (room for closure plate rotation and pad expansion). Or the pad 4 and housing 2 can be designed such that phase 1 expansion is time dependent, with phase 2 used to mitigate pad tensile stresses due to creep.
Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.
This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. No. 60/546,210, filed Feb. 23, 2004 by the present inventors.