I'm looking for some advice on how a seismic snubber works. My situation is that I have a support which cannot handle all of the seismic load imposed on it. I am considering adding a hydraulic snubber to help absorb some of the load.
If, for example, I add a snubber rated to take 10,000 lbs. will it take only 10,000 lbs and let the other support take the rest of the load, or will it take as much load as is imposed on it. I would like to distribute the load on the structure instead of having it taken at on location.

Seismic snubbers are qualified(rated)for a certain load. If the actual load exceeds this value the snubber "fails"and does not take a load any more.
"Snubber failure" means that the required safety factor is not met any more.
If the actual seismic load is higher than the rated load you need a bigger snubber or several smaller ones over a certain distance.

Theo Schotten

Dear Malcolm,

In resent projects we used seismic snubbers from a company called Gerb, plesase follow the link below:

http://www.gerb.com/en/arbeitsgebiete/arbeitsgebiete.php?ID=127&kategorie=12

Hope this helps

Veit