2025 Volume 81 Issue 13 Article ID: 24-13544
In the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on January 1, 2024, several ruptures of laminated rubber bearings were confirmed. The functional evaluation of rubber bearings in the current handbook for road bridge bearings and Specifications for highway bridges was not based on fracture, and it was recognized that there is a need to establish new regulations based on the state of fracture. However, it is difficult to conduct fracture tests on full-scale specimens, and FEM analysis has attracted much attention. In this study, FEM analyses was conducted to verify the internal stress state in the full-scale laminated rubber bearing under horizontal shear strain. The cause and mechanism of bending deformation in the inner steel plate were clarified, and the deformation and stress distribution in the rubber material, adhesive layer, and inner steel plate were clarified. It was also shown that the dominant stresses in the rubber material and adhesive layer are not shear stresses but maximum principal stresses and equivalent stresses.
