System identification of RC buildings with brick infills in Nepal

Abstract

This thesis focuses on system identification and establishment of correlation between building height and vibration period for Nepali reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. Various methods for system identification along with some illustrations using response from known simple single degree of freedom (SDOF) and multi degree of freedom (MDOF) systems is reported. Identification of modal period of a 10 story RC building (30 meter tall) using finite element model is done to compare the vibration period obtained from experimental method, N4SID approach, which is executed in MATLAB. The 10 story building has shear walls from ground floor to the top floor for additional stiffness. The periods of the building obtained from finite element analysis and experimental method are compared to verify the accuracy and reliability of the experimental method (N4SID). After verification of reliability of the experimental method, the same method has been used for system identification of other 35 RC buildings in Nepal. Height of the buildings is the main parameter used for the comparison of the system property. The buildings taken into consideration in the analysis range from 2.87 meter to 34.44 meter. All the buildings are Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures with beams and columns as the main structural elements.