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Published December 1970 | Published
Journal Article Open

Distant motions from a building vibration test

Abstract

Horizontal ground motion generated by vibration tests of the nine-story Millikan Library Building on the Caltech campus was recorded on the surface of the ground in the Pasadena area at distances up to 3 miles from the building. Later it was learned that the vertical component of the motion also was recorded by the seismograph on Mt. Wilson, 6.7 miles from the Library and 4,800 ft higher in elevation. The magnitude of the acceleration varied from 2.04 × 10-^(2)g at the excitation level on the ninth floor of the building to 3.2 × 10^(-7)g at Mt. Wilson. Simple calculations show that multistory buildings are particularly well-suited for inducing large dynamic forces in the ground with relatively small equipment.

Additional Information

© 1970 Seismological Society of America. Manuscript received June 9 1970. The writer is indebted to Clarence R. Allen, Ronald F. Scott and Francis E. Lehner for operating the seismographic instruments and to Julio Kuroiwa, Fred McDonald, and Rafael Ronderos for assisting with the vibration equipment and the accelerometer-recorder system.

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Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023