Qushion: earthquake protection by rubber-soil mixtures

This paper presents a promising earthquake protection method by placing rubber-soil mixtures (RSM) around the foundation of structures for absorbing seismic energy and exerting a function similar to that of an earthQuake cUSHION, named hereafter as "QUSHION". The validity of the method has been demonstrated by numerical simulations. A parametric study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness and robustness of this method. The use of scrap tires as the rubber material can provide an alternative way of consuming huge stockpiles of scrap tires from all over the world. Moreover, the low cost of this proposed seismic isolation methods can greatly benefit developing countries where resources and technology are not adequate for earthquake mitigation using well-developed, yet expensive, techniques.