System identification for a six-storey precast concrete frame building

This paper presents forced and ambient vibration tests on a six-storey precast concrete frame building, a structural system that has not often been the focus of such tests in spite of its widespread use. Precast buildings come with semi-rigid connections so their idealisation requires good knowledge of the construction practice for those connections and their details. Structural system dynamic properties are identified for the first three translational modes along each axis of the building and for the first three torsional modes. The study shows that the three-dimensional finite-element structural model for the building is capable of replicating the measured in situ dynamic properties. In the small displacement elastic range, the finite-element modelling of precast concrete frame systems is not very different from their cast-in-place counterparts but an extrapolation to the large displacement range requires empirical confirmation.