Aiming at the widely-used multilayer container buildings, a new sliding isolation system is proposed on the basis of the friction energy dissipation between containers. Firstly, a sliding isolation structure model is constructed, and a relationship between the equivalent damping ratio and the friction coefficient of each layer of layerupon- layer sliding isolation structure is derived through the random vibration theory. Then, a six-layer container model are constructed on the basis of the nonlinear finite element software Abaqus, and the elasto-plastic nonlinear time history of dynamic response for strong earthquake is investigated on an isolated structure, a non-isolated structure of ordinary damping ratio and a non-isolated structure of equivalent damping ratio. Finally, the relative structure indexes, such as the top displacement, the angular displacement between structural layers and the slip between structural layers, are analyzed. The results show that (1) the proposed sliding isolation system can reduce the maximum displacement of each structural layer effectively; (2) the isolated structure and the non-isolated structure with equivalent damping ratio have much smaller maximum angular displacement between structural layers than the non-isolated structure with specification damping ratio does; and (3) the spectral characteristics of seismic waves can affect the dynamic response of layer-upon-layer sliding isolation structures significantly.