Shake table tests of a new steel–asphalt composite layer system for the seismic base isolation of housing units

•A new steel–asphalt composite layer for the seismic base isolation is present.•Shake table tests of two full-scale specimens are carried out.•The isolation layer could efficiently reduce the input acceleration.

Base isolation is an effective way to reduce earthquake energy transfer from ground to structure, but existing seismic isolation systems are not very suitable for rural buildings for some reasons. A new steel–asphalt composite layer for the seismic base isolation of housing units is present in this paper. Its dynamic characteristics and isolation effect are studied by shake table tests of two full-scale specimens. Different earthquake waves with different peak ground accelerations (PGA, from 0.1 g to 0.4 g) are input. Test results show that the isolation layer could efficiently reduce the input acceleration. Moreover, as the PGA increase, the isolation layer shows good function of the displacement limit.