SCEC Award Number 06122 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Calibrating Rupture to Rivets Using the UCLA 17-story Factor Building
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Thomas Heaton California Institute of Technology Monica Kohler University of California, Los Angeles
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities B6, B5 SCEC Groups EEII, Seismology, SHRA
Report Due Date N/A Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 We report on how waveform data from a 17-story moment-resisting steel frame building was used in comparison with finite-element calculations for the building’s predictive behavior. Observed displacements for 20 small and moderate, local and regional earthquakes were used to compute the impulse response functions of the building by deconvolving the subbasement records as representative input motions at its base. The impulse response functions were then stacked to bring out wave propagation effects more clearly. The stacked data are used as input into theoretical dynamic analysis simulations of the building’s response. The density of the array allows us to present an alternative wavefield representation of wave propagation through buildings, and to carry out forward modeling simulations for locating damage that may have caused changes to the system characteristics.
Intellectual Merit This project uses methods from earthquake seismology to characterize and understand changes in the elastic properties of a building. Whereas most building analysis utilizes modal decompositions, this study uses traveling waves to characterize building vibrations. This new approach allows new methodologies for recognizing structural damage in buildings.
Broader Impacts This project requires analysis techniques that have been developed independently in the fiels of structural engineering and also in earthquake seismology. This problem of interest to both disciplines, which is rather unusual. Furthermore, the findings may become useful as a technique to detect building damage.
Exemplary Figure Figure 3,
Figure 3. Left: The ETABS finite-element model of the Factor building. Right: Dynamic analysis modeling results (“SYNTHETICS”) for a Gaussian curve displacement impulse input in the (a) north-south direction, and (b) east-west direction, applied at the base of the columns. The associated data waveforms (“DATA”) are shown on top for comparison.