  The aim of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of nonlinear
viscoelastic damping in controlling base-excited vibrations. Specifically, the
focus is on investigating the robustness of the nonlinear base isolation
performance in controlling the system response due to a wide set of possible
excitation spectra. The dynamic model is derived to study a simple structure
whose base isolation is provided via a Rubber-Layer Roller Bearing (RLRB)
(rigid cylinders rolling on rigid plates with highly damping rubber coatings)
equipped with a nonlinear cubic spring, thus presenting both nonlinear damping
and stiffness. We found that, under periodic loading, due to the non-monotonic
bell-shaped viscoelastic damping arising from the viscoelastic rolling
contacts, different dynamic regimes occur mostly depending on whether the
damping peak is overcome or not. Interestingly, in the former case, poorly
damped self-excited vibrations may be triggered by the steep damping decrease.
Moreover, in order to investigate the robustness of the isolation performance,
we consider a set of real seismic excitations, showing that tuned nonlinear
RLRB provide loads isolation in a wider range of excitation spectra, compared
to generic linear isolators. This is peculiarly suited for applications (such
as seismic and failure engineering) in which the specific excitation spectrum
is unknown a priori, and blind design on statistical data has to be employed.
