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Profile of Dr. R.Ramesh Babu

Dr. R.Ramesh Babu obtained his B.E from Madras University and
M.E.,(Structural Engg) and Ph.D in 1999 from IISc., Bangalore. At
present he is an Additional Director and Group Head at Central Power
Research Institute, Bangalore. He has more than 25 years of
experience in Design of Transmission line towers, Sub-Station
structures, micro-wave towers and their foundations. Designed
transmission line towers (66 kV to 765 kV) and their foundations for
many state electricity boards and power utilities in India and abroad.
In addition he was actively involved in Testing of proto-type and scale
down models of transmission line towers and foundations as per
National and International standards. He had carried out technoeconomic feasibility studies in upgrading and uprating existing
transmission lines for state electricity boards.
He was actively
involved in design and development of first four circuit transmission
line in India. He had developed computer software for design of poles
(steel and pre-stressed concrete) and their foundations. He was fully
involved in establishing a National centre housing the state-of-the-art
test facilities for vibration and seismic qualification of equipment at
Central power Research Institute, Bangalore. Present activities are
testing of electrical equipments for seismic qualification and design of
structures in earthquake prone zones. He had executed many
consultancy works for power utilities and Industries. He has presented
more than eighty technical papers in National and International
conferences and journals He has guided over 20 M.E students for their
project work at CPRI.
His areas of expertise are : Design & Prototype testing of
Transmission line Towers, Design of compact Transmission lines,
Design of Structures for Seismic Loading. His areas of interest are:
Optimum design of mechanical components for Dynamic loads, Testing
of Equipment for Seismic qualification.

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SHAKE TABLE TESTING IN SEISMIC ANALYSIS

Dr.R.Ramesh Babu,
Additional Director
Central Power Research Institute
Bangalore-560 080
E-mail: rbabu@cpri.in
Abstract
New generation earthquake simulator with electronic and computer
controlled systems allow more realistic reproduction and simulation of
natural earthquake ground motion. The State-Of-The-Art facility for
seismic simulation is established at CPRI, Bangalore to carryout R&D
and dynamic testing of industrial components and structures for Power
plants, Railways, Electronic, Telecommunication and Automobile
industries etc., Simulation tests using shake table are carried out on
prototype and scaled down models of electrical equipments and critical
structures of power plants and high rise buildings to check their
reliability of. Few case studies on shake table tests carried out on
Bamboo based structural system, RCC frames and electrical equipment
are discussed in this paper.
1.0

INTRODUCTION

The greatest economic losses caused by earthquakes are typically

inflicted upon equipments and structures, such as buildings, bridges,
power plants and other life support systems critical to a modern
civilization. For this reason investment in preventive measures to
minimize earthquake damage is a sensible and cost effective approach.
The development of earthquake resistant design techniques requires
experimental study into the behaviour of structures and components
when subjected to earthquake loads so that appropriate mathematical
models may be formulated. Dynamic response prediction of strength
and non-linear damage mechanism is very complex.
Laboratory
simulation using Shake Table on components and structures is an
effective way to study such complex phenomena.
Earthquake
Engineering and Vibration Research Centre (EVRC) housing a Tri-axial
Seismic Shaker system established at CPRI acts as a national centre
for research, testing and certification in the field of earthquake
engineering.

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2.0

SEISMIC DESIGN

Seismic engineering is one of the most rapidly evolving disciplines in

the civil/structural engineering profession. Recent seismic events
around the world have provided new insight into the way structures
perform when subjected to earthquake related ground motion. These
events have focused the attention of government agencies, the
scientific community and the general public on safety hazards and
potential losses associated with structures that perform poorly during
earthquakes. As a result, there is growing national emphasis on
seismic risk assessment, seismic design requirements for new
structures, and seismic retrofit of existing structures. Seismic
provisions of building codes have been revised recently. Scientists
have begun to estimate the locations and likelihoods of future
damaging earthquakes. Sites of greatest hazard are being identified,
and definite progress is being made in designing structures that will
withstand the effects of earthquakes.
3.0

SEISMIC QUALIFICATION METHODS

The scope of seismic qualification is to predict, check and demonstrate

that the structures and equipments do not loose their normal
functional operability & structural integrity and continue to function
uninterrupted.
Seismic qualification of structures, systems and
equipments may be accomplished by
a) By performing analysis
b)
By shake table testing under simulated earthquake
conditions
c) By combined analysis and testing
Earlier calculations and analysis were considered to be a sufficient
proof for qualifying structures,
systems
and equipments for
earthquake loading. However, device operability assessments during
an earthquake remain difficult to confirm by analysis , and thus a
test or combined test-analysis procedure is followed to show all
requirements of operability are met. For electrical, instrumentation
and control equipment, qualification by testing and actual operation
during simulated earthquakes has now become necessity. Two types
of analysis followed in seismic qualification are
1)
Response spectra analysis and
2)
Time history analysis.

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In the time history analysis the equations of motion are solved for a
large number of small time steps.
Time history analysis is
generally done by using Direct integration technique or modal
superposition technique
Due to complexity of electrical and instrumentation
devices
qualification by analysis is not possible and furthermore, as the
device operability assessments during an earthquake remain difficult
to reach
by
analysis and as such testing is
preferred
for
qualification for functional conditions.
Non linear structure or Complex
equipment (mechanical, electrical
and instrumentation) which cannot be modeled
correctly
to
predict their seismic response, seismic qualification with the help of
shake table capable of generating desired earthquake input motion is
obviously a better choice than what can be achieved by analytical
method. Shake table testing is now a well proven and accepted as a
qualification technique for ascertaining the operability
of an
equipment during
and after an earthquake.
Advanced
Instrumentation methods are available that can accurately record and
analyze the recorded time-history response signal.
Equipments like diesel generators have complex geometries, large
shapes
and uneven mass distribution and dissimilar material
properties. The usual procedure of carrying out qualification tests on
shaking table becomes difficult in such cases because of nonavailability of large shake tables with required performances and as
such qualification only by analysis is unreliable because of the
difficulty in modeling. Such equipments are qualified by combination
of analysis and testing.
4.0

SEISMIC TESTING

Due to increased population and growth in construction activities, the

risk of earthquake is much higher than before. Hence the safety
against earthquakes is strongly required for buildings and other civil
engineering structures. To improve our understanding of the response
of structures under earthquakes, three approaches could be adopted,
i.e., site investigation of earthquake damage, theoretical analysis and
structural test. Though the computer and numerical techniques are
advanced, the structural testing methods are still the most powerful,
basic and determined methods in studying structural seismic behavior,
and they provide the foundation for the development of earthquake
engineering. Shaking table can be effectively used for checking

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structural adequacy of the earthquake-resistant design and to validate

the mathematical model of structure, especially to verify the high-rise
building by small-scale model. In fact, all kinds of structures can be
tested by shaking table testing method so long as the system has
enough capacity to carry the specimen.
4.1

Seismic Simulation Tests

Currently there are several methods available for seismic simulation

testing of structural systems. The possible seismic test methods for
structures are
1)
2)
3)

Quasi -static cyclic test,

Pseudo-dynamic test,
shaking-table test.

Among the above quasi-static cyclic tests are carried out on

components or sub systems of buildings and shake table studies and
pseudo-dynamic tests for large systems and scaled models.
The main purposes of carrying out seismic simulation tests are to
study the seismic responses of accelerations, displacements and
strains at critical locations of structures, to identify the locations of
structural crack and the weakness points and to determine the
collapse pattern and failure mechanism. Prior to seismic simulation
tests, preliminary dynamic tests are conducted on the system to
evaluate their dynamic characteristics viz., the natural frequencies,
damping ratio and vibration modes etc.,
5.0

Shake table Tests

Shaking table test is more realistic method of earthquake testing than

pseudo dynamic method. The shaking table test is economic, tangible,
and reliable validation test to assess the seismic safety and reliability
of buildings. Shaking tables are usually square or rectangular stiff
planar platforms moved by servo-hydraulic actuators to simulate
earthquakes.
Specimens of interest are mounted on the table and tests are carried
out simulating design or postulated earthquakes. The dynamic
behavior of the structure and its damage pattern under earthquake
with great magnitude can be reproduced. As a result of this test, the
structure is proved to ensure safety, or too weak to resist a
destructive earthquake. The weak points of structure are determined,
and suggestions and modifications can be put forward, before the

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construction of prototype structures. Extensive shake table tests are

conducted at many research and academic institutes to study
earthquake resistant design of civil engineering structures, such as
bridges, dams, and buildings, and to qualify critical equipment like
computer control systems, switching relay banks, electrical control
panels and nuclear plant cooling pumps and turbines.
5.1

Tri-Axial Shaker System at CPRI Bangalore

Earthquake engineering laboratory housing the tri-axial shaker system

with six degrees of freedom ,capable of performing a diverse range of
seismic qualification test requirements on equipment, sub-assemblies
and components as per National / International standards has been
established at Central Power Research Institute CPRI, Bangalore. The
tri-axial shaker system consisting of a shaking-table is a unique facility
that can strictly simulate the earthquake ground motion without any
distortion. The shaking table can vibrate in one axis to three axes with
six degrees of freedom. The advanced control system allows the
reproduction of earthquake ground motions with high fidelity and little
distortion.. Table 1 shows salient features of high-performance shaker
system at CPRI, Bangalore. The seismic qualification tests are being
conducted using the tri-axial earthquake simulation system, which
features a 10-ton pay load capacity shake table of all-welded steel
construction. An advanced control system allows the reproduction of
earthquake ground motions with high fidelity
For choosing suitable earthquake waves or the design spectrum to
excite the table for testing the bamboo house, the parameters such as
the type soil at site, type of construction, the dynamic behavior of the
prototype structure and the appropriate seismic zone are required as
design input parameters. The earthquake spectrum is an average
smoothened plot of maximum acceleration as function of frequency or
time period of vibration for a specified damping
for a site-specific
condition. These are specified by the appropriate building code. A
typical test spectrum for Zone IV obtained as per the
recommendations of IS 1893 (Part1): 2002 titled Criteria for
Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures is shown in Figure 1.

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0.700

Acceleration

0.600
0.500
0.400
0.300
0.200
0.100
0.000
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

Frequency in Hz

Figure -1 Design spectrum for Zone 4

6.0 SEISMIC TESTING OF A BAMBOO BASED BUILDING
SYSTEM
Bamboo is a genus of plants indigenous to Asia and Africa. It has
been used as a building material in these regions since prehistoric
times. Bamboo is a renewable resource for agro-forestry production
and a viable replacement for wood. It is one of the strongest building
materials, with a tensile strength that rivals steel and weight-tostrength ratio surpassing that of graphite. It is used to produce
flooring, wall paneling, pulp for paper, fencing, raw material for
housing, and more. However over the time, people started using other
materials such as steel and concrete extensively for construction in
place of wood and Bamboo.
Bamboo grows in abundance in the earth's subtropical and tropical
countries, where the majority of earthquakes occur causing many
deaths and injuries and extensive property damage. Over the past
two decades, technology has played an increasingly significant role in
mitigating hazards that result from earthquakes. Interdisciplinary
Research & Development programs are planned in place of
conventional discipline-specific theoretical analysis. Considerable
research work has gone into Bamboo and is gaining in popularity as an
earthquake-mitigating material because engineers are beginning to
understand its structural properties.
The level of confidence associated with the seismic analysis and design
of Bamboo based construction is much lower than for concrete or steel
construction. There is a need for more test data on complete full-scale
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of-practice of analysis and design. A collaborative project has been

taken up jointly by TRADA and CPRI (funded by DFID, UK) with a view
to test earthquake resistance capability of bamboo building system.
The high performance shake table at CPRI has been utilized for system
testing under seismic loading.
6.1

Construction of Bamboo House

A bamboo house of plan dimension 2.7m x 2.7m, the maximum proto

type size that can be tested on the seismic table at CPRI was
constructed. The system consists of suitably preservative treated
bamboo columns 80-100mm diameter spaced at 1.35m intervals and
the top of the column held by wooden top plate. The wall infill
comprises of a grid of split bamboo strips. The grids tied together with
binding wire are attached to columns through 6mm dia MS dowels.
Walls are plastered for thickness of 50mm with cement mortar. The
roof consists of bamboo mat corrugated sheet (BMCS) developed by
IPIRTI and supported on bamboo purlins and bamboo trusses with
bolted bamboo mat gusset joints. The roof is secured to walls by
means of steel angles and bolts. The prototype was constructed on MS
steel channel base to facilitate lifting and mounting on the shake table.
The walls, the bamboo poles, trusses, windows and door were painted.
6.2

Seismic Testing

The bamboo house constructed on a rigid steel frame was mounted on

the seismic table. The weight of the bamboo house was measured
2636 kg. Utmost care was exercised not to damage the test specimen.
Preliminary inspection was carried out to locate any distortion or
structural failure, if any, in the form of cracks in the walls and
deflection in roof trusses. Accelerometers were mounted on identified
critical locations. The bamboo house mounted on the seismic table is
shown in Figure 2.

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Figure -2

Bamboo house mounted on seismic table for testing

The Bamboo house was mounted on the seismic table and tested for
the design spectrum. The seismic simulation as per the design
spectrum of zone IV and Zone V were carried out on the specimen,
the bamboo house. The duration of the seismic simulation was 30
seconds. The seismic simulation for Zone V was repeated five times to
check the fatigue strength of the bamboo house. The acceleration at
different identified locations was recorded continuously during
simulation. The bamboo house was tested for Kobe earthquake too.
Bamboo housing system developed by TRADA IPIRTI withstood
earthquake intensities as stipulated for Zone 4 and 5 of BIS and
KOBE earthquake. The structure did not exhibit any distress or cracks
in any part of the building. Joints between bamboo columns and
bamboo reinforced cement mortar infill walls remained intact after the
test. There were no signs of any damage in the roof structure. The test
clearly establishes the efficiency of bamboo building system and
advantages of positive connections between various elements like
column, infill wall and roof and high racking strength of infill walls in
transmitting horizontal quake forces
7.0 SEISMIC QUALIFICATION OF RETROFITTING
TECHNIQUES:
The objective behind the seismic review of an existing industrial
structures and equipment is its evaluation against the perceived
seismic hazard using current design practice. The methodology of
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seismic design of structures and equipment have evolved over a

number of years and industrial systems were designed and built
according to the standards prevailing at that time of their construction.
These facilities may not satisfy the requirements that are related to
the current design criteria Therefore, it becomes necessary to reassess
the capability of the industrial systems to withstand the effect of
earthquake load in line with the present design requirements and
retrofit if not meeting the same. If the existing industrial systems fail
to qualify for current design earthquakes then the various options for
retrofitting are given below.
1. Use strengthening methods
2. Use response control devices

Fig.2

Shake Table test on a 3D RC frame with Masonry infill

Some of the strengthening methods are i) using bracings ii) increasing

the member sizes iii) steel and FRP jacketing. Passive, active and
semi active devices are used for controlling the seismic response.
Response control devices like dampers and base Isolators may also be
used in retrofitting the structures and equipment. Elasto-plastic
Dampers, based on plastic deforming steel plates, consists of X shaped
plates. These plates sustain many cycles of stable yielding deformation,
resulting in high levels of energy dissipation or damping.

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Fig.3

Shake Table test on a RC frame with Dampers

Shake table tests were conducted on scaled down models of RC frames

upto failure. The tests were repeated on the retrofitted structures.
Shake table tests were also carried out on RC frames with Elastoplastic dampers.
8.0 SEISMIC QUALIFICATION OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
Earthquakes consistently cause significant and heavy damage to power
systems. The reliability and safety of electrical transmission and
distribution systems after an earthquake depend on the seismic
response of individual substation components. Past earthquakes have
demonstrated that a broad range of equipment is especially vulnerable
to damage: instrumentation transformers, lightning arresters, circuit
breakers, disconnect switches, line traps, and transformers. The major
earthquakes have cost hundreds of millions of dollars of direct losses
due to equipment damage. The lost revenue due to service disruptions
is an additional cost. The use of seismic qualification of electrical
equipment is one of the most cost-effective methods for reducing
damage and disruptions from earthquakes. Hence Equipment and
supporting structures for power generating stations, transmission
installations and substations located in seismically sensitive regions /
zones have to be designed to withstand possible earthquakes.
8.1

Test Methods

Present test methods generally fall into three major categories. They
are proof or generic testing and fragility testing. The types of motion
available to simulate the seismic environment fall into two categories;
single frequency and multiple frequency. The method chosen depends
upon the nature of the expected vibration environment and also on the
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nature of the equipment. In general, the test seismic stimulation

waveforms are generated to produce a Test Response Spectrum (TRS)
that closely envelops the Required Response Spectrum (RRS) over the
frequency range of interest using multiple-frequency input. The
waveform or the compatible time history should have peak
acceleration equal to or greater than the RRS ZPA.
8.2

Testing

For engineering purposes, the time variation of ground acceleration is

the most useful way of defining the shaking of the ground during an
earthquake. The behaviour of the structures depends on the
earthquake excitation given to its base during earthquake. Shake tests
are performed by subjecting equipment to vibratory motion that
conservatively simulates that postulated at the equipment mounting
during an earthquake. One practical problem that arises when
attempting to establish the tests to be used to qualify equipment is the
choice of the earthquake environment. Many factors to be considered
are location of the equipment, the nature of the equipment, the nature
of expected earthquakes, and others. An additional consideration is
whether the equipment is to be used in one application or many. When
the equipment is used on only one application the seismic motion can
be specified and the qualification test can be chosen to meet the
specification (proof-testing). When the equipment is used in many
applications, the test should be designed to qualify the equipment for
future undefined applications (generic testing). Fragility testing is
conducted to determine the limit of the equipments capabilities.

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Fig.4 Equipment under seismic test

The seismic qualification tests on various electrical equipments are
being conducted using the tri-axial earthquake simulation system.
During pre-seismic tests, depending on the type of equipment,
measurements viz., Insulation resistance, Winding resistance, No
load current, Percentage impedance are made. After pre-seismic tests
the specimen is mounted on the shake table. Resonance search tests
are carried out in each axes to identify the resonant frequencies with
the frequency. As per the codal recommendations seismic tests were
performed simulating the required table vibration in all the three axes
simultaneously so that the test response spectra generated envelops
the required response spectra within the frequency range of 0.5 to 50
Hz. After performing the above tests, the specimen is thoroughly
inspected for any cracks, damages, distortion and breakages, cracks in
welds, displacement of any accessories and chattering or mal
operation of relays, instruments etc., After successful testing, the
specimen is certified as seismically qualified.
9.0

CONCLUSIONS

To sum up it may be stated that earthquake is a natural and

unpredictable phenomenon which may occur at any time. The havoc
caused by earthquake to living being (human and animals) and
infrastructures is ineffable. It is only through seismic qualification of
equipment (design and testing) and supporting structures, loss to
human life and equipments can be minimized.
The public would like scientists to predict earthquakes. Scientists
cant do that. What people and government can do is work to make
sure our houses, schools and hospitals dont fall down when the next
big one strikes, and that were all prepared for the difficult aftermaths.
We can look around our homes and our workplace and think about
what would happen to them if the terra firma suddenly ceased being
firm. We can stop worrying about predicting the unpredictable, and
start doing more to prepare for the inevitable.
CPRI can help both develop the system performance criteria and
evaluate equipment seismic withstand capability. CPRI can carry out
structural analysis on civil structures and electrical equipment to
determine seismic withstand capability. CPRI is equipped with the
state-of-the-art facilities for model or real size testing of structures,
components and electrical equipment using a seismic shaker table.

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10.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the encouragement of Shri.
P.K.Kognolkar, Director General, CPRI in bringing out this technical
paper.
11.0 REFERENCES
1.

BIS 1893 (Part 1):2002 Criteria for earthquake resistant design

of structures.

2.

Arun K Bansal, H.N.Jagadeesh and H,G.Reddy, Bamboo based

housing system, New building and Construction world, Vol.7,
issue-6, Dec-2001

4.

Ray W. Clough and Joseph Penzien, Dynamics of Structures,

New York, McGraw-Hill book company.

5.
Mariopaz, Structural Dyanmics, Theory & computation, second
Edition, 1987.
6.

Chopra, A.K., Dynamics of Structures, Theory and applications

to earthquake enigineering, Pearson Education Inc., 2003.

7.

G.R.Reddy, Seismic design and qualification of Systems,

Structures and Components- Part-A, Proceedings of Theme
Meeting on Seismic Qualification of Nuclear Facilities, 21-st July,
2006.

8.

IEEE Std.693-1987 IEEE Recommended Practice for Seismic

design of Substations.

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