Full-scale dynamic response of an RC building under weak seismic motions using earthquake recordings, ambient vibrations and mod

 In countries with a moderate seismic hazard, the classical methods
developed for strong motion prone countries to estimate the seismic
behaviour and subsequent vulnerability of existing buildings are often
inadequate and not financially realistic. The main goals of this paper
are to show how the modal analysis can contribute to the understanding
of the seismic building response and the good relevancy of a modal model
based on ambient vibrations for estimating the structural deformation
under weak earthquakes. We describe the application of an enhanced modal
analysis technique (frequency domain decomposition) to process ambient
vibration recordings taken at the Grenoble City Hall building (France).
The frequencies of ambient vibrations are compared with those of weak
earthquakes recorded by the French permanent accelerometric network
(RAP) that was installed to monitor the building. The frequency
variations of the building under weak earthquakes are shown to be less
(∼2%) and therefore ambient vibration frequencies are relevant over the
elastic domain of the building. The modal parameters extracted from
ambient vibrations are then used to determine the 1D lumped-mass model
in order to reproduce the inter-storey drift under weak earthquakes and
to fix a 3D numerical model that could be used for strong earthquakes.
The correlation coefficients between data and synthetic motion are close
to 80 and 90% in horizontal directions, for the 1D and 3D modelling,
respectively. 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eqe.948/abstract