A new procedure to estimate seismic response parameters from a limited number of records

This paper describes the application to a real instrumented building of a new technique to estimate seismic response parameters from a limited number of records. Unknown responses at location where recording sensors are not available are ‘instantaneously’ reconstructed interpolating recorded responses through a spline shape function. Recording sensors are assumed to be placed following the optimal distribution defined by the local minimum points of a function of the effective participation factors of the dominant modes of the structure. The method is applied to the Robert A. Millikan Library using records from the 2002 Yorba Linda earthquake in California. Several key response parameters have been estimated from reconstructed responses and compared to those obtained from recorded data. Results of this application show that: 1) the validity of the proposed criterion for the optimal location of a limited number of recording sensors, previously checked for numerical models of frames, is confirmed by the application to a real building; 2) reconstructed responses through optimal spline interpolation provide an excellent fit of the structural response in terms of key response parameters provided a distribution of recording sensors enabling the modeling of the dominant modes of the structure is available.