Bi-directional pseudodynamic test of a full-size three-storey building

Abstract

SUMMARYThe reliability of a Pseudodynamic (PsD) test depends primarily on the accuracy of the control system. Di$culties arise mainly when the method is applied to very sti! or very heavy structures or to structures with a high number of Degrees of Freedom (DoFs). This paper describes the bi-directional PsD testing of a full-size three-storey building. The tested specimen is a composite structure with plan dimensions of 12;16 m and height of 9)5 m, made of steel columns and beams combined with composite reinforced concrete slabs. The PsD test included the application of two uncorrelated accelerograms along the horizontal directions X and >. Since the structure was not symmetric about the >-axis, the possibility of torsion was considered by taking into account both horizontal displacements and the yaw rotation at every #oor. Three displacement-controlled hydraulic actuators were thus used at each #oor to impose these three DoFs while a fourth actuator with special control strategy was added to optimize the distribution of loads among the pistons. The validity of the testing methodology was veri"ed by performing also a dynamic random burst test on the specimen which was afterwards pseudodynamically reproduced.

An overview of seismic hybrid testing of engineering structures

“…columns) and the collapse load may be overestimated when gravity loads are not physically applied. In a substructured PsD test, the equation of motion can be written in discretised form as: Developments in multi-axis substructure testing have also been made using multiaxial actuators with uni-directional rotation or three-dimensional rotational hinges ( [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27] & [28]). The multi-directional displacements of the test structure are taken into account by co-ordinate transformation methods based on trigonometry.…”

“…Molina et al, [22] performed bi-directional PsD testing of full-scale three-storey building at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, as shown in Figure 13 Pegon and Pinto, [19] discuss general developments in PsD substructured testing of a full-scale bridge structure at the ELSA Laboratory at Ispra, Italy. Notably, the paper investigates the topic of asynchronous testing.…”

Pseudodynamic response of torsionally unbalanced two‐storey test structure

“…Thus, a geometric transformation between these co-ordinate systems is necessary. It is performed on-line during testing according to the algorithm developed at the ELSA laboratory of the European Commission JRC [36]. In the PsD test method it is not necessary to add masses to the test structure.…”

Seismic assessment of an industrial frame structure designed according to Eurocodes. Part 1: Experimental tests and their numerical simulation

“…The tests were carried out in ELSA in July 2003 by means of the pseudodynamic method [4][5][6][7], which makes it possible to overcome the limitations of weights and dimensions, which are associated with the use of shaking tables. In order to reproduce in the columns the design values of the axial loads, a total vertical load of 600 kN was applied by means of vertical jacks, as shown in Fig.…”