Add to ORKGIssues related to heat generation in sliding pendulum isolators used as seismic dampers are approached by developing a method for studying the heat state of seismic isolation units in computer analyses. A finite element model of pendulum isolator is created and the generation of frictional heat is reproduced by introducing a heat source located between the moving surfaces, with specific power calculated upon friction coefficient, contact pressure and velocity; the influence of the current surface temperature on the coefficient of friction is also accounted for by means of a custom iterative subroutine. The model provides as the output the temperature field within the isolator over the whole duration of the seismic excitation. Experiments ca...