• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.809-822
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• 2016

Reinforced concrete buildings constitute the majority of the building stock of Turkey and much of them, do not comply the earthquake codes. Recently there is a great tendency for strengthening to heal their earthquake performance. The performance evaluations are usually executed by the numerical investigations performed in computer packages. However, the numerical models are often far from representing the real behaviour of the existing buildings. In this condition, experimental modal analysis fills a gap to correct the numerical models to be used in further analysis. On the other hand, there have been a few dynamic tests performed on the existing reinforced concrete buildings. Especially forced vibration survey is not preferred due to the inherent difficulties, high cost and probable risk of damage. This study applies both ambient and forced vibration surveys to investigate the dynamic properties of a six-story residential building in Istanbul. Mode shapes, modal frequencies and damping ration were determined. Later on numerical analysis with finite element method was performed. Based on the first three modes of the building, a model updating strategy was employed. The study enabled to compare the results of ambient and forced vibration surveys and check the accuracy of the numerical models used for the performance evaluation of the reinforced concrete buildings.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.391-398
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• 2001

This paper presents the application method of a wavelet theory for identification of the structural dynamic properties of a bridge, which is based on the ambient vibration signal caused by the traffic loadings. The method utilizes the time-scale decomposition of the ambient vibration signal , i . e. the continuous wavelet transform using the Morlet wavelet is used to decompose the ambient vibration signal into the time-scale domain. The applicability of the proposed approach is verified through the reduced scale bridge and automobile system in the laboratory. The results of verification shows that the use of the Morlet wavelet to identify the structural dynamic properties is reasonable and practicable.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.367-376
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• 2014

Ambient vibration techniques are nowadays a very popular tool to assess dynamic properties of buildings. Due to its non destructive character, this method is particularly valuable, especially for health monitoring of historical monuments. The present ambient vibration experiment consists on the evaluation of vibration modes of a Medieval tower. Situated in Soncino (close to Cremona, in the Northern Italian region named Lombardia), the tower of 41.5 meters height has been monitored by seismometers located at different points inside the structure. Spectral ratios of the recorded ambient vibrations clearly identify a fundamental mode at about 1 Hz, with a slight difference in the two horizontal components. A second mode is also evidenced at approx 4-5 Hz, with a moderate degree of uncertainty. The records of a ML 4.4 earthquake, occurred during the monitoring period, confirm the information obtained by microtremor analysis. Daily variations of both 1st and 2nd mode were detected: these variations, of an amount up to 2%, seem to be well related with the temperature.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.425-448
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• 2012

In this paper, a new damage detection and quantification method has been presented to perform detection and quantification of structural damage under ambient vibration loadings. To extract modal properties of the structural system under ambient excitation, natural excitation technique (NExT) and eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) are employed. Sensitivity matrices of the dynamic residual force vector have been derived and used in the parameter subset selection method to identify multiple damaged locations. In the sequel, the steady state genetic algorithm (SSGA) is used to determine quantified levels of the identified damage by minimizing errors in the modal flexibility matrix. In this study, performance of the proposed damage detection and quantification methodology is evaluated using a finite element model of a truss structure with considerations of possible experimental errors and noises. A series of numerical examples with five different damage scenarios including a challengingly small damage level demonstrates that the proposed methodology can efficaciously detect and quantify damage under noisy ambient vibrations.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.189-206
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• 2011

In this study, the subspace stochastic realization theories (SSR model I and SSR model II) have been applied to a real bridge for estimating its dynamic characteristics (natural frequencies, damping constants, and vibration modes) under ambient vibration. A numerical simulation is carried out for an arch-type steel truss bridge using a white noise excitation. The estimates obtained from this simulation are compared with those obtained from the Finite Element (FE) analysis, demonstrating good agreement and clarifying the excellent performance of this method in estimating the structural dynamic characteristics. Subsequently, these methods are applied to the vibration induced by both strong and weak winds as obtained by remote monitoring of the Kabashima bridge (an arch-type steel truss bridge of length 136 m, and situated in Nagasaki city). The results obtained with this experimental data reveal that more accurate estimates are obtained when strong wind vibration data is used. In contrast, the vibration data obtained from weak wind provides accurate estimates at lower frequencies, and inaccurate accuracy for higher modes of vibration that do not get excited by the wind of lower intensity. On the basis of the identified results obtained using both simulated data and monitored data from a real bridge, it is determined that the SSR model II realizes more accurate results than the SSR model I. In general, the approach investigated in this study is found to provide acceptable estimates of the dynamic characteristics of highway bridges as well as for the vibration monitoring of bridges.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.252-259
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• 2010

In urban tunnels, namely, in case there are residents in the near distance, we normally use non-vibration and ambient vibration which are not blasting methods because it’ impossible to meet the blasting vibration regulation with only normal explosives. However, non-vibration methods not only cause increase of excavating cost, but need much time than explosives. Generally, the lower velocity explosives with 2,000 m/s VOD have been applied to ambient vibration blasting in open cut area, but difficult in tunneling in its use. However, by charging the hole together with lower velocity explosives and normal explosives, we have got the result which shows 20~30% vibration decrease compared with using only normal explosives. Therefore, I’ like to suggest the blasting method which is able to do as ambient vibration using lower velocity explosives mixed with normal explosives in urban tunnel and the area which is adjacent to security facilities within the vibration regulation.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.195-208
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• 2008

This paper summarizes the experimental vibration-based structural health monitoring study on a historical monument in Jordan. In this work, and within the framework of the European Commission funded project "wide-Range Non-Intrusive Devices Toward Conservation of Historical Monuments in the Mediterranean Area", a seven and a half century old minaret located in Ajloun (73 km north of the capital Amman) is studied. Because of their cultural value, touristic importance and the desire to preserve them for the future, only non-destructive tests were allowed for the experimental investigation of such heritage structures. Therefore, after dimensional measurements and determination of the current state of damage in the selected monument, ambient vibration tests are conducted to measure the accelerations at strategic locations of the system. Output-only modal identification technique is applied to extract the modal parameters such as natural frequencies and mode shapes. A Non-linear version of SAP 2000 computer program is used to develop a three-dimensional finite element model of the minaret. The developed numerical model is then updated according to the modal parameters obtained experimentally by the ambient-vibration test-results and the measured characteristics of old stone and deteriorated mortar. Moreover, a parametric identification method using the N4Sid state space model is employed to model the dynamic behavior of the minaret and to build up a robust, immune and noise tolerant model.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.433-445
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• 2013

Vibration-based structural identification has become an important tool for structural health monitoring and safety evaluation. However, various kinds of uncertainties (e.g., observation noise) involved in the field test data obstruct automation system identification for accurate and fast structural safety evaluation. A practical way including a data preprocessing procedure and a vector backward auto-regressive (VBAR) method has been investigated for practical bridge identification. The data preprocessing procedure serves to improve the data quality, which consists of multi-level uncertainty mitigation techniques. The VBAR method provides a determinative way to automatically distinguish structural modes from extraneous modes arising from uncertainty. Ambient test data of a cantilever beam is investigated to demonstrate how the proposed method automatically interprets vibration data for structural modal estimation. Especially, structural identification of a truss bridge using field test data is also performed to study the effectiveness of the proposed method for real bridge identification.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2003

A power generation system are proposed to convert ambient mechanical vibration into electrical energy using cantilever-type piezoelectric materials. The vibration-based power device can be used for self-powered systems without batteries. This paper presents the theoretical analysis for the coupled equations of piezoelectric and structural motions and investigates the dynamic characteristics of the self-power system using transfer function method. The theoretical model is verified by the finite element analysis of the resonance frequency, the dynamic response of the structure and the sensor sensibility. Experimental results measured using a prototype system agrees with the theoretical predictions. The system is shown to produce 2.53㎼ in average. Finally, we perform the optimal design for system variables to maximize output power.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.218-225
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• 2000

This paper presents intermediate results of an on-going research for identification of the modal and the stiffness parameters of a bridge based on the ambient vibration data caused by the traffic loadings. The main algorithms consist of the random decrement method incorporating band-pass filters for estimation of the free vibration signals the cross spectral density method for identification of the modal parameters and the neural networks technique for estimation of the element-level stiffness changes. An experimental study is carried out on a scaled bridge model with a composite section subjected to various moving vehicle loadings. Vertical accelerations are measured at several locations on the girder. The estimated frequencies and mode shapes are found to be well-compared with those obtained from the impact tests. The estimated stiffness changes using the neural networks are found to be very good for the case with the simulated data. However the accuracy is found to be not quite satisfactory for the case with the experimental data particularly for the small value of the stiffness changes.