Dynamic Characteristics of Woodframe Buildings

Abstract

A database of dynamic characteristics of woodframe buildings was developed through analysis of recorded earthquake response and by forced vibration and shaketable testing. Modal identification was performed on eight sets of strong-motion records obtained from five buildings, and forced vibration tests were performed on five other buildings. The periods identified were sensitive to the amplitude of shaking, due to the reduction in lateral stiffness at stronger shaking levels. The equivalent viscous damping ratios were usually more than 10% of critical during earthquake shaking. A regression analysis was performed on the earthquake and forced vibration test data to obtain a simple, but reasonably accurate, period formula for woodframe buildings at low drift levels (less than 0.1%). Data obtained from the UC San Diego and UC Berkeley full-scale shake-table tests illustrate the shift in periods due to increasing shaking amplitude. Forced vibration tests of the UC Berkeley 3-story building before and after the shake-table tests showed how the periods and modeshapes shift due to damage. A simple analytical model of masses and springs was used to model the UC Berkeley test structure. The effects of diaphragm stiffness and mass distribution assumptions were evaluated and found to have a significant effect on the model torsional response. This model was used to find the equivalent wall stiffnesses giving frequency-response curves that best-fit the experimental data. These spring values were used to quantify the stiffness loss resulting from severe shaking of the structure, and the observed damage corresponded to stiffness losses of over 75%. The correlation between stiffness loss and damage to woodframe buildings has potential structural health monitoring implications.

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