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System identification of the Civil Hospital Alausí

Abstract:

The Civil Hospital Alausí is a two-story structural wall building located in Alausí, Ecuador. The structure was built eighty years ago, thus, it resisted several numbers of earthquakes, and developed some pathologies, like cracks. A three-dimensional model of the building was prepared to simulate the seismic performance calibrated with the instrumentation of the structure using accelerometers and its ambient vibration was recorded. The recordings have been used to identify the dynamic properties of the structure, to propose options for the reinforcement of the building and have the technical evidence of its efficiency. The obtained natural frequencies and modal shapes were compared with those from the linear model of the structure. Therefore, the comparison of the model-estimated modal parameters with those obtained from the recorded data will provide insight for the development of accurate, yet efficient, numerical models for actual buildings.