Structural Health Monitoring

Earthquake damage detection in buildings and early warning based on wave travel times

Project supported by NSF, Directorate for Engineering, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, Grant No.  CMMI-0800399.

… and additional publications

USC Strong Motion Research Group
University of Southern California
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2531

Members

Maria Todorovska, Principal Investigator
Email: mtodorov@usc.edu
URL: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mtodorov/
Publications: Google Scholar

Mohammadtaghi (Mehran) Rahmani, Ph.D. May 2014
Email: mrahmani@usc.edu
URL:  http://www-scf.usc.edu/~mrahmani/
Publications: Google Scholar

Mahdi Ebrahimian, Ph.D. May 2015
Email:  mebrahim@usc.edu    URL:  http://www-scf.usc.edu/~mebrahim/index.html
Publications: Google Scholar

Visiting Scholars:

Prof. Qijian Liu, Hunan University, China
Dr. Mina Sugino, Kyoto University, Japan
Dr. Tomasz Falborski, Gdansk Int. of Technology, Poland
Prof. Aydın Ozmutlu, Namik Kemal University, Ph.D. Istanbul Technical Univ., Turkey
Dr. Mohammad Alembagheri, Sharif Univ. of Technology, Iran

Project Abstract

The objective of this project is to develop a novel methodology for remote structural health monitoring that is robust when applied to actual structures and large amplitude response, and is calibrated using data from full-scale structures. The focus of this project will be on buildings. The methodology is based on detecting changes in travel time of seismic waves propagating through the structure, that have been radiated by a virtual source created by de-convolution of recorded vibration response. The methodology will be calibrated using earthquake records from full-scale buildings that have been damaged or could have been damaged by an earthquake. Further, the effectiveness of this methodology for general condition monitoring will be explored. The major advantages of this wave-based method are that it can localize the damage with relatively small number of sensors, and that it is not sensitive to the effects of soil-structure interaction and changes in other structural boundary conditions.

The availability of a validated methodology that works with real structures and field data will greatly facilitate the decision making during emergency response and recovery following an earthquake, and will help reduce loss of life, injuries and monetary losses caused by earthquakes. For example, a timely decision to evacuate an unsafe building will reduce the risk of loss of life and injuries caused by potential collapse of the weakened structure by its shaking from the aftershocks. The methodology, with capability for general condition monitoring of structures, will be a useful tool in managing the aging infrastructure.

Example of buildings to which the method applies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Los_Angeles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Seattle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Anchorage

Results of this Project and Dissemination

Ph.D. Dissertations
  • Structural system identification and health monitoring of buildings by the wave method based on the Timoshenko beam model, by  Mahdi Ebrahimian.  A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School, University of Southern California, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Civil Engineering). August 2015.
  • http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/609142
  • Wave method for structural system identification and health monitoring of buildings based on layered shear beam model, by  Mohammadtaghi (Mehran) Rahmani.  A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School, University of Southern California, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Civil Engineering). May 2014.
  • http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15799coll3/id/609142/rec/1
 Journal Papers
  •  Wave method for structural health monitoring: testing using full-scale shake table experiment data, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI, Falborski T, J. Struct. Eng., ASCE, 143(4): 04016217, 2016.
  • Prediction of building response at any level from recorded roof response: the Kanai-Yoshizawa formula revisited, Ebrahimian M, Trifunac M, Todorovska MI , Soil Dyn & earthq. Eng, 2015, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.08.001, first published online on 8/25/2015, in press.
  • Prediction of building response at any level from recorded roof response: the Kanai-Yoshizawa formula revisited, Ebrahimian M, Trifunac M, Todorovska MI, Soil Dyn & earthq. Eng, 80: 241-250, 2016, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.08.001.
  • System identification of buildings by a wave method based on a layered Timoshenko beam model, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI, J. Eng. Mech., ASCE, 2015, 141 (8): 04015022.
  • Time-wave velocity analysis for early earthquake damage detection in buildings: Application to a damaged full-scale RC building, Rahmani M, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI.  Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dynam. 2015, 44 (4): 619–636; Special Issue on Earthquake Engineering Application of Structural Health Monitoring, CR Farrar and JL Beck Guest Editors.
  • Wave dispersion in high-rise buildings due to soil-structure interaction, Rahmani M, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI. Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn. 2015, 44 (2): 317-323. Final draft
  • Nonparametric identification of wave dispersion in high-rise buildings by seismic interferometry, Ebrahimian M, Rahmani M, Todorovska MI. Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dyn. 2014, 43(15): 2361-2375. Final draft
  • Wave propagation in a Timoshenko beam building model, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI, J. Eng. Mech., ASCE, 2014, 140 (5): 04014015. Final draft
  • Structural health monitoring of a 54-story steel frame building using a wave method and earthquake records, Rahmani M, Todorovska MI, Earthquake Spectra 2015, 31 (1): 501-525, Accepted for publication: 8/2/2013. Final draft
  • 1D System identification of a 54-story steel frame building by seismic interferometry, Rahmani M, Todorovska MI, Earthq. Eng. Struct. Dynam. 2014, 43: 627–640;
  • 1D system identification of buildings during earthquakes by seismic interferometry with waveform inversion of impulse responses – method and application to Millikan Library,Rahmani M, Todorovska MI.  Soil Dyn. Earthq. Eng. 2013, 47:157-174, Jose Roësset Special Issue, E. Kausel and J. E. Luco, Guest Editors.
  • System identification of buildings by wave travel time analysis and layered shear beam models – spatial resolution and accuracy, Todorovska MI, Rahmani MT.  Struct. Control Health Monit. 2013, 20 (5): 686–702, first published online on 6 March 2012.
  • Seismic interferometry of a soil-structure interaction model with coupled horizontal and rocking response, Todorovska MI, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 2009, 99 (2A): 611-625.
  • Soil-structure system identification of Millikan Library North-South response during four earthquakes (1970-2002): what caused the observed wandering of the system frequencies?, Todorovska MI, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 2009, 99(2A), 626-635.
  • Structural system identification of buildings using layered building models and impulse responses, Todorovska MI, Rahmani MT, Izgradnja: 65 (11-12): 683-697, 2011.
Conference Papers and Abstracts
  • Wave velocities in Torre Central building of University of Chile and their changes caused by M8.8 Maule Earthquake of 2010, by Rahmani, M, Hao, T-Y, Todorovska, MI,Boroschek, R, Proc. 16th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering.
  • Monitoring two medieval towers through ambient seismic noise deconvolutions, by Zaccarelli L, Todorovska M, Ebrahimian M, Morelli A, Cavaliere A, Azzara R.   26th IUGG General Assembly 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, June 22-July 2, 2015. International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy, Abstract.
  • Time-wave velocity analysis for early earthquake damage detection in buildings: application to a damaged full-scale RC Building, by Rahmani M, Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI. Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, 21-25 April, 2015. Abstract.
  • Is ambient excitation as effective as the larger amplitude earthquake excitation for detecting earthquake damage in full-scale structures? Some results based on shake table tests of a full-scale 7-story building slice, by Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI, Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, 21-25 April, 2015. Abstract.
  • Wave propagation in buildings as periodic structures: Timoshenko beam with slabs model and its application to structural system identification and health monitoring, by Todorovska MI, Ozmutlu A, Ebrahimian M, Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, Pasadena, CA, 21-25 April, 2015.
  • Structural system identification of buildings by a wave method based on a layered Timoshenko beam model, by Ebrahimian M, Todorovska MI, Proc. SPIE 9064, 2014, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2014, 90641C (March 9, 2014); doi:10.1117/12.2045219; http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2045219, pp. 13.
  • Wave method for system identification and health monitoring of buildings – extension to fitting Timoshenko beam model, by Ebrahimian M, Rahmani M, Todorovska MI, Proceedings of the 10th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Anchorage, Alaska, July 21-25, 2014, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA.  DOI: 10.4231/D3NV99B46, pp. 10.
  • Recent advances in wave travel time based methodology for structural health monitoring and early earthquake damage detection in buildings, by Todorovska MI, Rahmani M.The 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (15WCEE), Sept. 24-28, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 10.
  • Earthquake damage detection in buildings and early warning based on wave travel times, by Todorovska MI, Proceedings of 2009 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 22-25, 2009, Grant # CMMI-0800399.
  • Impulse response analysis of layered building models and lessons learned for structural health monitoring, by Todorovska MI, Rahmani  M , Proc. EMI 2010 Engineering Mechanics Conference,  USC, Los Angeles, Aug 8-11, 2010.  Abstract.
  • Observed Torsional Waves in Buildings during Earthquakes and their Use for Structural Health Monitoring, by Todorovska MI, Rahmani M.  SSA 2012, Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, San Diago, CA, 17-19 April, 2012, invited, abstract.
  • High Resolution Identification of Shear and Torsional Wave Velocity Profiles of Buildings – Methodology and Application to Millikan Library, by Rahmani M, Todorovska MI, SSA 2012, Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, San Diago, CA, 17-19 April, 2012, abstract.
Book Chapters
  • Earthquake damage: detection and early warning in man-made structures, Todorovska MI, Chapter in “Encyclopedia of Complexity and System Science”, R.A. Meyers (Ed.), Part 5: Complexity in Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Volcanoes, and Forecasting and Early Warning of their Hazards, W. H. K. Lee (Section Ed.), Springer, 2009, pp. 2371-2395, DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-30440-3_146.   View article
  • Separation of the effects of soil-structure interaction in frequency estimation of buildings from earthquake records, Todorovska MI, in Coupled site and soil-structure interaction effects with application to seismic risk mitigation, Ed. T. Shanz and Roumen Iankov, Springer, 169-178, 2009.
Lectures and Conference Presentations
  • Wave method for structural health monitoring and early earthquake damage detection in buildings, invited lecture, Hunan University, Changsha, China, May 27, 2013.
  • Wave methods for structural system identification and health monitoring of buildings,  invited lecture presented at Ambient Noise Imaging and Monitoring, short course and workshop organized by Michel Campillo, Eric Larose and Philippe Roux, Institut des Sciences de la Terre, Université Joseph Fourier,Grenoble, France, Cargese, Corsica, France, April 22nd-27th, 2013.
  • Structural health monitoring and damage detection based on wave propagation methodology, seminar, Kinemetrics Inc., Pasadena, CA, April 16, 2013.
  • Structural Health Monitoring and Damage Detection based on wave propagation methodology, seminar, Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC), Lisboa, Portugal, October 3, 2012.
  • Recent advances in wave travel time based methodology for structural health monitoring and early earthquake damage detection in buildings, seminar, Universitdade do Porto, Faculdado de Engenharia, Portugal, October 1, 2012.
  • Recent advances in wave travel time based methodology for structural health monitoring and early earthquake damage detection in buildings, The 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (15WCEE), Sept. 24-28, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal, oral.
  • Observed torsional waves in buildings during earthquakes and their use for structural health monitoring, SSA 2012, Seismological Society of America Annual Meeting, San Diago, CA, 17-19 April, 2012, invited, oral presentation.
  • Structural system identification and earthquake damage detection in buildings based on a wave propagation model” 5th Scientific Research Gathering “Experiences and Learning from the Earthquake that Struck Kraljevo on 3rd of November 2010” June 2-3, 2011, Kraljevo, Srbija.
  • Short Course on Analysis of Strong Motion Accelerograms in Geotechnical and Structural Engineering, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, Panama City, March 14-18, 2011.
  • Identification of buildings using a wave method. Seminar, Institute of Engineering, Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), March 10, 2011.
  • Impulse response analysis of layered building models and lessons learned for structural health monitoring, EMI 2010 Engineering Mechanics Conference, USC, Los Angeles, Aug 8-11, 2010. (oral). The role of soil-structure interaction in structural system identification and health monitoring. Lecture delivered as part of short course on Soil-Structure Interaction, organized by Association of Civil Engineers of Serbia and magazine Izgradnja, Belgrade, Serbia, June 23, 2008.
  • Intermediate scale wave method for structural health monitoring and its application to earthquake response data recorded in full-scale buildings.  Seminar, Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Chinese Earthquake Administration, Harbin, China, October 22, 2008.
  • Intermediate scale wave method for structural health monitoring and its application to earthquake response data recorded in full-scale buildings.  Seminar, Civil Engineering Department, Tianjin Univ., Tianjin, China, October 23, 2008.
  • The role of soil-structure interaction in structural system identification and health monitoring. Lecture delivered at Civil Engineering Department of Univ. St. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia, June 17, 2008.
  • Earthquake damage detection in structures and early warning, 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China (oral)
Other Recent Publications on Structural Health Monitoring

Journal Papers

  • Impulse response analysis of the Van Nuys 7-story hotel during 11 earthquakes and earthquake damage detection,  M.I. Todorovska and M.D. Trifunac,  Structural Control and Health Monitoring 2008, 15(1):90-116.
  • Earthquake damage detection in the Imperial County Services Building I: the data and time-frequency analysis, M.I. Todorovska and M.D. Trifunac, Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engrg 2007, 27(6):564–576.
  • Earthquake damage detection in the Imperial County Services Building II: analysis of novelties via wavelets, M.I. Todorovska and M.D. Trifunac, Structural Control and Health Monitoring  2010, 17(8):895-917. First published online on Aug. 3, 2009.
  • Earthquake damage detection in the Imperial County Services Building III: analysis of wave travel times via impulse response functions, M.I. Todorovska and M.D. Trifunac, Soil Dynamics & Earthquake Engrg 2008, 28(5):387–404.
  • Environmental effects on measured structural frequencies – model prediction of short-term shift during heavy rainfall and comparison with full-scale observations, Todorovska MI, Al Rjoub Y, Structural Control and Health Monitoring 2009, 16(4):406-424, 2009.
  • Effects of rainfall on soil-structure system frequency: examples based on poroelasticity and a comparison with full-scale measurements, M.I. Todorovska & Y. Al Rjoub, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engrg 2006, 26(6-7):708-717,.  (Special issue on Biot Centennial – Earthquake Engineering).
  • Variability of the fixed-base and soil-structure system frequencies of a building – the case of Borik-2 building, Trifunac, MD, M.I. Todorovska, M.I. Manić, and B.Đ. Bulajić, Structural Control and Health Monitoring 2010, 17(2):120–151, first published online 2008, DOI: 10.1002/stc.277.

Conference Papers

  • Earthquake damage detection in structures and early warning, Todorovska MI, Trifunac MD,  Proc. 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China, Paper S05-03-010, pp. 10, 2008.
  • Identification of fixed-base and rigid body frequencies of vibration of soil-structure systems from recorded response with minimum instrumentation, Todorovska MI , Proc. 14thWorld Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China, Paper 11-0173, pp. 10, 2008.
  • Threshold changes in building frequencies of vibration associated with structural damage – study of full-scale observations in the Borik-2 building in former Yugoslavia, TrifunacMD, Todorovska MI, Manić MI, Bulajić BĐ, Proc. 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China, Paper S05-03-015, pp. 10, 2008.
  • Soil-structure interaction and Biot’s theory of wave propagation in poroelastic media as possible explanation for observed changes of apparent frequencies of vibration of a building with heavy rainfall, Todorovska MI, Al Rjoub Y, in Poro-Mechanics IV, Ed. H.I. Ling, A. Smyth and R. Betti, (Proc. of The Fourth Biot Conference on Poromechanics, Columbia University, New York, June 8-10, 2009), pp. 6, 2009.
  • Rotational Earthquake Motions – International Working Group and its Activities, Todorovska MI, Igel H, Trifunac MD, Lee WHK, Proc. 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China, Paper 03-02-0031, pp. 10, 2008.
  • Variations of apparent building frequencies – lessons from full-scale earthquake observations,  M.I. Todorovska, MD Trifunac & T.Y. Hao, Proc. First European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (a joint event of the 13th ECEE & 30th General Assembly of the ESC), Geneva, Switzerland, 3-8 September 2006, Paper Number: 1547, 2006, pp. 9.

Archived Seminar Presentations

  • Structural models for rational design, structural health monitoring and seismic risk and loss assessment, Earthquake Hazards Seminar, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, 17 January 2008. [ mms://video.wr.usgs.gov/ehz/2008/20080117.wmv  ]

Other recent publications

  • Physical-empirical model for generation of multi-component synthetic ground motion time histories at closely spaced distances, Todorovska MI, Trifunac MD, Lee VW, OrbovicN, The 15th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (15WCEE), Sept. 24-28, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 10.

Older Publications

Look up the USC Strong Motion Research Group Selected Publication page.