Hamed Ebrahimian

System Identification of the BNCS Full-Scale Five-Story Reinforced Concrete Building 

 

 

From the earliest stages of constructing the BNCS building, we deployed a temporary accelerometer array in the structure to monitor the evolution of the modal properties of the building and the effects of different construction stages. This part of the study provided valuable information on the effects of the construction process and nonstructural components’ installation on the dynamic properties of the building specimen.

 

In the second phase of this study, the modal properties of the BNCS building were monitored before and after major seismic tests by conducting white noise shake table tests and/or collecting ambient vibration data. We’ve used different state-of-the-art system identification methods, including output-only and input-output methods, to estimate the modal properties of the BNCS building. The changes in the modal properties of the building were correlated with the physical damage observed in the building. This study was performed for both the base-isolated and fixed-based configuration of the BNCS building. I served as a collaborator and contributor in this research project.

 

To the left, the first four mode shapes of the undamaged fixed-base building are shown. These mode shapes are identified using the stochastic subspace identification method based on ambient vibration data.