Case Study
Modelling the Dynamic Behaviour of Buildings
The Building Research Establishment
(BRE) is one of the
world's leading centres for research and advice in building construction. LUSAS Civil
& Structural is being used in the Dynamic Loading and System Identification
Section for predicting structural response to dynamic loads, evaluating structural
behaviour, verifying proposed analytical methods and comparing results from experimental
studies.
In one particular study, a full-size test building has
been constructed at the BRE Cardington site. Of steel framed construction, it has eight
storeys with a total height of 33.5m and covers a plan area of 45m x 21m. A variety of
tests are being performed on the building including static, dynamic, blast and fire
testing. In parallel with the dynamic testing LUSAS has been used to model five different
construction stages from a pure steel frame to a complete building with applied loads.
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The aim of the study was to obtain results from LUSAS in addition to
site measurements so that the dynamic behaviour of the building at each stage of its
construction could be better understood. The modelling and experimental studies were
performed independently but they are mutually beneficial. A numerical prediction of one
particular dynamic behaviour of the building provided guidance for further tests while the
LUSAS model was refined using experimental results at each stage of construction to
provide an improved structural idealisation. Although all buildings are unique, the
experience gained from deriving a better structural idealisation in this case will be
useful when modelling other steel-framed building structures.
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