Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322

www.elsevier.com/locate/soildyn

Dynamic characteristics of a base isolated building from ambient

vibration measurements and low level earthquake shaking
C.E. Venturaa,*, W.D. Liam Finnb, J.-F. Lordc, N. Fujitad
a
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of British Columbia, 2324 Main Hall, Vancouver, Canada 761-0396
b
Anabuki Chair of Foundation Geodynamics, Kagawa University, Japan
c
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Canada
d
Anabuki Chair of Foundation Geodynamics, Kagawa University, Japan
Accepted 2 September 2002

Abstract
Ambient vibration tests were conducted on a base-isolated apartment building in Takamatsu, Japan, to determine the mode shapes and the
associated natural frequencies and damping ratios at very low levels of excitation. The latest developments in signal analysis for modal
decomposition are used to analyze the ambient response data. A finite element model of the building and isolators was calibrated and refined
using the experimental results from the ambient vibration tests. This model was then used to simulate the recorded response of the building
under excitation from a small earthquake. The finite element model, calibrated by ambient vibration data and the low level of earthquake
shaking, provides the starting point for modelling the non-linear response of the building when subjected to strong shaking.
q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Base-isolated building; Ambient vibration tests; Modal characteristics; Model updating; Signal analysis

1. Introduction and objective of study
Ambient vibration tests were conducted on a base-
isolated building in Takamatsu, Japan, to determine its
dynamic response characteristics under very low levels of
excitation. The study was a joint research venture between
Kagawa University, Takamatsu, Japan, the University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and Anabuki
Komuten of Takamatsu, Japan. The natural frequencies,
modal damping and mode shapes of the building were
determined in the longitudinal, transverse and torsional
directions in order to provide data for the calibration of a
finite element model of the building in its initial state before
the onset of strong shaking. The primary objective of the
study is to provide a starting point for tracing the evolution
of the non-linear response of the building under strong
shaking, using the computer program ETABS [1].
The dynamic characteristics at low levels of shaking
correspond to elastic response and therefore may be
appropriate for the analysis of the building response to the
Level 1 motions specified for the serviceability design level
in recent Japanese codes. They also provide the starting
* Corresponding author.
0267-7261/03/$ - see front matter q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 7 - 7 2 6 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 0 8 - 7
point for realistic computational models for the non-linear
analysis of structures under strong ground shaking corre-
sponding to Level 2 motions, specified for strong shaking in
the Japanese Code.
2. Description of the building
The Wakabaryo Building is a base-isolated six-storey
reinforced concrete frame building. The lateral force
resisting structural system consists of concrete shear walls
in the transverse direction and concrete moment frames in
the longitudinal direction. The superstructure is supported
on 12 rubber base isolators. Each base isolator has a
diameter of 0.80 m and a height of 0.42 m. The footings
under the isolators are supported on circular reinforced
concrete caissons, 18 m long, 1.8 m in diameter and are
connected by deep reinforced concrete beams (depth ¼ 1.5
m). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume for finite element
modelling purposes that the foundation can be considered
fixed against rotation. Two different views of the building
are shown in Fig. 1. A 6.84 m high mechanical equipment
room, which houses a 3 ton water storage tank, can be seen
at one end of the building above the roof level. A close up of
314 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322
Fig. 1. Views of the Wakabaryo building.
the base-isolation system is shown in Fig. 2(a). Fig. 2(b)
shows how the entrances to the building have been designed
to prevent any contact of the stairs with the ground and to
ensure proper performance of the base isolation system. A
plan view and an elevation of the building are shown in
Fig. 3 along with some pertinent dimensions. Storey heights
are as follows: first and second floors, 3.31 m; third through
fifth floors, 2.76 m; and sixth floor, 2.81 m. Immediately
after construction in 1996, the building was permanently
instrumented with strong motion accelerometers. This
instrumentation has already recorded the motions from a
magnitude 5.4 earthquake that occurred in the Wakayama
Prefecture on August 21, 1999. This earthquake induced
ground accelerations of less than five gals at the base of the
building [2].
3. Experimental study
The experimental study consisted of a series of ambient
vibration measurements at selected locations throughout
Fig. 2. Details of base-isolation system: (a) the base isolator itself along
with a strong motion accelerometer; (b) the emergency exit.
the building. A modal identification of the structure was
developed from the ambient vibration data using state-of-
the-art modal analysis techniques. This section describes the
experimental work and the data analyses.
3.1. Instrumentation
The ambient responses of the building were measured
with a 10-channel data acquisition system using EpiSen-
sor Model FBA ES-T force balanced accelerometers,
connected by shielded cables to a 16-bit signal condi-
tioner and A/D converter (Kinemetrics, VSS3000). The
EpiSensor ES-T can be uni-axial or tri-axial. Both types
were used during the ambient vibration testing of the
building. Its range of operation is user selectable at
^ 0.25, ^ 0.50, ^ 1.0, ^ 2.0, or ^ 4.0 g. The range of
^ 0.50 g was selected for the study. A laptop computer
was used for data acquisition and data storage. For each
set-up, the data was recorded for a period of 20 min at
 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322 315

Fig. 3. Typical plan and elevation of the Wakabaryo building.

a rate of 200 samples per second (sps), thus resulting in
a Nyquist frequency of 100 Hz.
In order to capture the transverse, longitudinal, and
torsional modes of the building, three uni-directional
horizontal accelerometers were used on each floor. Two
reference sensors were placed on the roof (one in each
direction). The locations of the accelerometers are
shown in Fig. 4. A total of four separate set-ups were
needed to measure the motions at each floor of the
building.
3.2. Analysis of ambient vibration data
During normal operating conditions, a building is
regularly subjected to ambient vibrations generated by
wind, occupants, ventilation, etc. The fundamental
assumption of the analysis of these ambient vibrations
is that the inputs causing motion have white noise
characteristics in the frequency range of interest. This
assumption implies that the input loads are not driving
the system at any particular frequency and therefore any
identified frequency associated with significant strong
response reflects structural modal response. However, in
reality, some of the ambient disturbances, such as, for
instance, an adjacent machine operating at a particular
frequency may drive the structure at that frequency. In
this case, the deformed shapes of the structure at such
driving frequencies are called Operational Modes. This
means that a crucial requirement of methods to analyze
ambient vibration data is the ability to distinguish the
natural structural modes from any imposed operational
modes.
316 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322
Fig. 4. Accelerometer sensor locations: (a) ground floor; (b) floors 1 through 6; (c) roof level.
The computer program ARTEMIS Extractor [3] was used
to perform the modal identification of the structure. In order
to increase confidence in the modal identification results,
two independent analysis techniques were used with the
same vibration data: frequency domain decomposition
(FDD) and stochastic subspace identification (SSI) [4,5].
The objective of using two modal identification techniques
is to cross-validate the results. The FDD technique, as
applied, easily identifies frequencies and peak responses,
which may be associated with either structural or oper-
ational modes. However, when viewing animated mode
shapes, it is usually possible to identify structural modes. On
the other hand, the SSI technique can discriminate reliably
between structural and operational modes but it requires
very lengthy calculations.
The essence of the FDD technique is to perform an
approximate decomposition of the measured system
response into a set of responses of independent single
degree of freedom (SDOF) systems, one for each mode.
The decomposition is performed by a singular value
decomposition (SVD) of each of the spectral density
matrices obtained from the measurements. The results of
the decomposition are a set of singular values and
associated singular vectors. The singular values are
estimates of the auto spectral density of the component
SDOF systems, and the singular vectors are estimates of
the mode shapes. The FDD technique involves the
following main steps: (a) estimate spectral density
matrices from the measured time series data; (b) perform
a SVD of the spectral density matrices; (c) if multiple
data sets are available, average the singular values of from
all data sets and display the results in graphical form; (d)
scan the curves of singular values and ‘peak pick’ the
frequencies of interest and estimate the corresponding
mode shapes at each frequency of interest using the
information contained in the singular vectors of the SVD.
A further refinement of the FDD, the enhanced frequency
domain decomposition (EFDD) method in ARTEMIS , uses
the modal estimates from the FDD technique to identify the
bell-shaped spectral functions of the SDOFs. From these
functions, it estimates additional modal parameters such as
modal damping.
 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322 317

The principle behind the stochastic subspace iteration Table 1

(SSI) technique is to fit the vibration data in the time domain Fundamental periods of the building
with a parametric model. The parametric model is a Mode no. Period (s) MAC
mathematical model where parameters can be adjusted to
replicate the raw time series accurately. The parameters FDD SSI
should be chosen so that the deviation between the predicted
1 0.43 0.42 0.94
response and the measured response is minimum. By using
2 0.37 0.36 0.98
the transfer function of the mathematical model, the natural 3 0.32 0.31 0.99
frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes can be 4 0.14 0.14 0.71
extracted. 5 0.13 0.13 0.95
Details of the FDD and the SSI techniques may be found 6 0.11 0.11 0.97
in Refs. [4,5].

the different structural elements is rather low. Since

4. Experimental results
The ARTEMIS Extractor FDD Peak Picking editor
displays singular values of the spectral density matrices
(Fig. 5). The peaks represent either structural modes or
operational modes. The structural frequencies were esti-
mated as described in the previous section and are
identified in Fig. 5. The values of these frequencies/periods
are also given in Table 1. The structural mode shapes and
frequencies were also estimated using the SSI technique.
The correlation between the FDD and SSI modes can be
quantified using the modal assurance criterion (MAC) [6].
The correlation between all of the modes estimated by both
techniques is presented in Table 2. The MAC value for
each mode can also be found in Table 1. A MAC index of
above 0.7 was obtained for the first six modes indicating a
good correlation between both techniques. The first six
structural modes of the building are well defined in the
transverse, longitudinal, and torsional directions.
Elevations, plans, and oblique views of the mode shapes
are shown in Fig. 6.
The damping ratios obtained using EFDD and SSI are
presented in Table 3. They represent the amount of damping
in the building for the displacement generated by each
mode, hence the small damping values. It is generally
accepted that at ambient levels of shaking, the strain of
the damping of the base isolators is highly dependent on
the strain induced by the lateral shaking, at low levels of
strain the associated damping for each isolator is rather
small. The implication of this is that the overall damping of
the system could be considered for practical purpose as
proportional or classical damping, and thus, the associated
mode shapes of the system are essentially identical to the
modes of the system without damping. As the levels of
shaking increase, the strains of the isolators will increase
and, consequently, the damping of the isolators will
increase. The overall damping of the system will become
of the non-proportional or non-classical type, and the
associated mode shapes could become complex-valued
vectors. In such a case, the traditional modal superposition
method of analysis is no longer applicable, and alternative
methods of analysis need to be used for evaluating the
seismic response of the structure. The modal identification
of the ambient vibration data performed with the program
ARTEMIS resulted in low modal damping values. Further-
more, the identified mode shapes, when animated, look like
stationary waves, which is a good indicator that all the mode
shapes are real valued. Had the mode shapes been complex-
valued, each would have appeared as a traveling wave
propagating from the base of the structure to the roof. But
that was not the case during the analysis of the ambient data.
It can then be concluded that at the levels of ambient
vibration, a base isolated building behaves essentially as a
classically damped system.

Table 2
MAC matrix

FDD (s) SSI (s)

0.42 0.36 0.31 0.14 0.13 0.11

0.43 0.94 0.02 0.31 0.24 0.14 0.06

0.38 0.23 0.98 0.23 0.11 0.03 0.02
0.32 0.37 0.38 0.99 0.24 0.03 0.06
0.14 0.49 0.1 0.18 0.71 0.49 0.23
0.13 0.08 0.02 0.13 0.09 0.95 0.34
0.11 0.06 0.04 0.06 0.07 0.29 0.97
Fig. 5. Singular values of the spectral density matrices.
318 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322

Fig. 6. Elevations, plans, and oblique views of the first six mode shapes of the building obtained experimentally.

5. Finite element model calibration elevations were defined at the centreline elevation of the
girders; (2) the building masses were lumped at the floor
The computer program ETABS Non-linear, Version 7.1 level; (3) the floor diaphragms were rigid in plane; (4) the
[1], was used to develop a finite element model of the base was assumed fixed because of the foundation
Wakabaryo building. The ETABS model was idealized as an
assemblage of area, line, and point objects. These objects Table 3
Damping ratios of the building
were used to represent different objects such as columns,
beams, walls, and slabs. Three-dimensional mode shapes Mode no. Damping (%)
and frequencies, modal participation factors, direction EFDD SSI
factors and participating mass percentages can be evaluated
using either eigenvector or Ritz-vector analysis. In this 1 3.91 ^ 1.53 6.21 ^ 0.614
2 5.86 ^ 0.843 3.66 ^ 0.368
study, the frequencies and corresponding mode shapes were 3 5.08 ^ 0.595 2.93 ^ 0.454
evaluated using Ritz-vector analysis [7]. 4 2.90 ^ 2.56 4.20 ^ 0.324
A few assumptions were made in order to build the 5 3.23 ^ 1.70 4.02 ^ 0.468
6 6.26 ^ 0.841 4.69 ^ 0.621
analytical model of the Wakabaryo building: (1) the floor
 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322
structures; (5) beam to column connections were fixed
(moment resisting frame assumption); (6) shear walls and
floor slabs were modeled as plate elements; (7) the
base isolators were modeled as line elements with two
translational and one vertical spring stiffnesses; and (8) no
rigid-offsets were used to model beam-to-beam and beam-
to-column connections.
The specified concrete strengths used in the model for
the columns, beams, slabs, and walls are 24.7 MPa for
floors 1 – 3 and 23 MPa for floors 4 to the roof. Grade
400 reinforcing steel was also used in the model. A
partition load of 120 kg/m2 was added to simulate the
ceiling loads and other partitions present in the building.
The weight of the concrete slabs was adjusted accord-
ingly to accommodate this increase. The 3 ton water
tank, located in the mechanical equipment room, was
modeled approximately as a uniformly distributed mass
over the plan area of the mechanical equipment room.
The total weight of the modeled structure is about
3800 ton. Lastly, the longitudinal walls were considered
Fig. 7. ETABS model of the Wakabaryo building.
319
Table 4
Comparison of periods from experimental data and ETABS model
Mode no. Experimental period (s) Analytical period (s)
1 0.43 0.42
2 0.37 0.40
3 0.32 0.35
4 0.14 0.11
5 0.13 0.09
6 0.11 0.08
as in-fill walls. A stiffness modifier coefficient of 0.2 was
used (i.e. 20% of Ig was used) for these walls.
In order to achieve a good correlation between the
experimentally determined modal characteristics and
those from the finite element model, it is very important
to select the appropriate stiffness of the isolators for low
levels of shaking. The design stiffnesses for earthquake
design were supplied by the manufacturer, but these are
not appropriate for ambient motions. At the low level of
vibration at which the building test was conducted, the
isolators behaved almost like rigid links. Therefore, the
isolator’s stiffness proposed by the manufacturer had to
be increased significantly in order to match the modal
characteristics obtained from ambient vibration data with
the analytical ones. The appropriate ambient vibration
stiffness was 80 kN/mm. As a reference, the initial
manufacturer’s stiffness was 8.75 kN/mm.
The model of the building is shown in Fig. 7. The
fundamental frequencies/periods are presented in Table 4
and the corresponding mode shapes are shown in Fig. 8.
The short stubby lines under the building show the
directions of the deformation of the isolators. By
comparing Figs. 6 and 8, it can be seen that there is
good correspondence between experimental and analyti-
cal mode shapes. Since the results are satisfactory, the
model is thought to be a good representation of the real
the building (or ‘of reality’).
6. Response due to low level earthquake shaking
The response of the Wakabaryo building was recorded
during a magnitude 5.4 earthquake that occurred on August
21, 1999. The response of the building during the
earthquake was compared to its ambient vibration response.
The frequency response function (FRF) of the earthquake
records is shown in Fig. 9. It can be observed that the natural
frequency of the building dropped from 2.34 to 2.05 Hz in
the first transverse mode, from 2.66 to 2.36 Hz in the first
torsional mode, and from 3.16 to 2.60 Hz in the first
longitudinal mode. This reduction in frequencies indicates
that the stresses and displacements generated in the isolators
have reduced their stiffness and therefore increased the
period of the building. This is the expected action of the
isolators as the level of shaking increases.
320 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322

Fig. 8. View of the first six mode shapes of the building obtained analytically.

The ground motions recorded at the foundation level
of the building were used as inputs for a non-linear
time-history analysis of the ETABS model. The computed
responses of the floor immediately above the isolator and
the response of the roof level were compared with the
measured motions at these same levels during the earth-
quake. To this end, the stiffness of the isolators was
modified until a good match between the computed ETABS
structural response of the model and the recorded
earthquake data on the building was obtained. The initial
stiffness of the force-displacement curve of the isolator
needed to be adjusted to represent the average properties of
the isolators for the strain levels at which the isolators were
being initially deformed during the earthquake. The bi-
linear link properties used to model the isolators are listed in
Table 5. A comparison of the acceleration response spectra
 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322 321

for calculated and measured motions in the transverse and

longitudinal directions, at the ground floor and roof levels, is
shown in Fig. 10. A good match was obtained for the
transverse direction and an acceptable match was obtained
for the longitudinal direction. This indicates that the ETABS
model is a good representation of the existing structure.
The next step in the present ongoing study will be to
analyze the response of the building to the strong motion
input used for design, and to subject the model to other
extreme levels of shaking in order to understand better the
Fig. 9. FRF of earthquake record. behavior of the base isolation system and the superstructure.
Table 5
Isolator properties used for calibrating the ETABS model to the Wakayama earthquake

Direction Linear properties Non-linear properties

Effective stiffness (kN/mm) Effective damping (%) Stiffness (kN/mm) Yield strength (kN) Post-yield strength ratio

X 80 0.25 60 128.4 0.022

Y 200 0.25 65 128.4 0.022
Z 2500 0.18 – – –

Fig. 10. Comparison of acceleration response spectra of measured and calculated floor responses.
322 C.E. Ventura et al. / Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 23 (2003) 313–322
7. Conclusions
The fundamental periods and corresponding mode
shapes for the Wakabaryo apartment building in Takamatsu,
Japan, were determined experimentally using ambient
vibration measurements. Two techniques were used to
derive the modal characteristics of the structure: the FDD
and the SSI. The first six mode shapes were obtained both
graphically and numerically.
The damping ratios were obtained using the EFDD and the
SSI techniques. It was recognized that a base-isolated structure
should have non-classical damping, but considering the low
level of vibration, the isolators act almost as rigid links and
classical damping can be considered as a valid assumption.
The modal parameters obtained experimentally were
used to calibrate a finite element model of the building. The
initial stiffness of the isolators required to replicate the
ambient response was 80 kN/mm. Analysis of the calibrated
model using recorded low level input motions resulted in
response spectra in good agreement with the spectra of the
recorded motions in the structure
The finite element model, calibrated by ambient vibration
data and verified for a low level of earthquake shaking,
provides the starting point for modeling the non-linear
response of the building when subjected to strong shaking.
Acknowledgements
The financial and logistical support provided by
Anabuki Komuten is gratefully acknowledged. The interest
and support of Mr Yasuo Asakura and Mr Tadaharu
Manabe of Anabuki Komuten were crucial to the success
of the project. Mr Estuardo Ventura of Vancouver provided
invaluable assistance in carrying out the tests. Ambient
vibration research conducted by Dr Carlos E. Ventura at
the University of British Columbia is supported by the
Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of
Canada.
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