A mid-story isolation system was proposed for seismic response reduction of high-rise buildings and presented good control performance. Control performance of a mid-story isolation system was enhanced by introducing semi-active control devices into isolation systems. Seismic response reduction capacity of a semi-active mid-story isolation system mainly depends on effect of control algorithm. AI(Artificial Intelligence)-based control algorithm was developed for control of a semi-active mid-story isolation system in this study. For this research, an practical structure of Shiodome Sumitomo building in Japan which has a mid-story isolation system was used as an example structure. An MR (magnetorheological) damper was used to make a semi-active mid-story isolation system in example model. In numerical simulation, seismic response prediction model was generated by one of supervised learning model, i.e. an RNN (Recurrent Neural Network). Deep Q-network (DQN) out of reinforcement learning algorithms was employed to develop control algorithm The numerical simulation results presented that the DQN algorithm can effectively control a semi-active mid-story isolation system resulting in successful reduction of seismic responses.

Spatial structure does not have columns and walls installed inside, so they have a large space. There are upper structure and substructure supporting them. The response of seismic loads to the upper structure may be increased or decreased due to the effects of the substructure. Therefore, in this study, the seismic response of the upper structure and the floor response spectrum of the substructure were compared and analyzed according to the height of the substructure in the spatial structure where the LRB was installed. As a result, the possibility of amplification of response was confirmed as seismic waves passed though the substructure, which is likely to increase the response of the upper structures.

A seismic isolation system is one of the most effective control devices used for mitigating the structural responses due to earthquake loads. This system is generally used as a type of base isolation system for low- and mid-rise building structures. If the base isolation technique is applied to high-rise buildings, a lot of problems may be induced such as the movement of isolation bearings during severe wind loads, the stability problem of bearings under large compression forces. Therefore, a mid-story isolation system was proposed for seismic protection of high-rise buildings. Residence-commerce complex buildings in Korea have vertical irregularity because shear wall type and frame type structures are vertically connected. This problem can be also solved by the mid-story isolation system. An effective analytical method using super elements and substructures was proposed in this study. This method was used to investigate control performance of mid-story isolation system for residence-commerce complex buildings subjected to seismic loads. Based on numerical analyses, it was shown that the mid-story isolation system can effectively reduce seismic responses of residence-commerce complex tall buildings.

In this study, the seismic response is investigated by using a relatively low-rise building under torsion-prone conditions and three seismic loads with change of the location of the seismic isolation system. LRB (Lead Rubber Bearing) was used for the seismic isolator applied to the analytical model. Fixed model without seismic isolation system was set as a basic model and LB models using seismic isolation system were compared. The maximum story drift ratio and the maximum torsional angle were evaluated by using the position of the seismic layer as a variable. It was confirmed that the isolation device is effective for torsional control of planar irregular structures. Also, it was shown that the applicability of the midstory seismic isolation system. Numerical analyses results presented that an isolator installed in the lower layer provided good control performance for the maximum story drift ratio and the maximum torsional angle simultaneously.

As the number of high-rise buildings increases, a mid-story isolation system has been proposed for high-rise buildings. Due to structural problems, an appropriate isolation layer displacement is required for an isolation system. In this study, the mid-story isolation system was designed and the seismic response of the structure was investigated by varying the yield strength and the horizontal stiffness of the seismic isolation system. To do this, a model with an isolation layer at the bottom of 15th floor of a 20-story building was used as an example structure. Kobe(1995) and Nihonkai-Chubu(1983) earthquake are used as earthquake excitations. The yield strength and the horizontal stiffness of the seismic isolation system were varied to determine the seismic displacement and the story drift ratio of the structure. Based on the analytical results, as the yield strength and horizontal stiffness increase, the displacement of the isolation layer decreases. The story drift ratio decreases and then increases. The displacement of the isolation layer and the story drift ratio are inversely proportional. Increasing the displacement of the isolation layer to reduce the story drift ratio can cause the structure to become unstable. Therefore, an engineer should choose the appropriate yield strength and horizontal stiffness in consideration of the safety and efficiency of the structure when a mid-story isolation system for a high-rise building is designed.

Base isolation system is generally used for low-rise buildings. For high-rise buildings subjected to earthquake loads, a mid-story isolation system was proposed and applied to practical engineering. In this study, seismic responses of high-rise buildings considering the installation story of the mid-story isolation system were evaluated. To do this, the 20-story and 30-story building were used as example structures. Historical earthquakes such as Kobe (1995), Northridge (1994) and Loma Prieta (1989) earthquakes were employed applied as earthquake excitations. The installation location of the mid-story isolation system was changed from the bottom of the 1st floor to the bottom of the top floor. The seismic responses of the example building were investigated by changing the location of the isolation layer. Based on the analytical results, when the seismic isolation system is applied, story drift ratio and acceleration response are reduced compared to the case without the isolation system. When the isolation layer is located on the lower part of the building, it is most effective. However, in that case, the possibility that the structure is unstable increases. Therefore, an engineer should consider both structural efficiency and safety when a mid-story isolation system for a high-rise building is designed.

Recently, because of the increased needs for isolation device structure, a lot of buildings equipped with isolation systems are designed. In this paper, we provide the information about the seismic isolation effects due to the stiffness variation of isolation devices due to the manufacturing errors for middle layer seismic isolation.