Fem updating of the heritage court building structure

This paper describes results of a model updating study conducted on a 15-storey reinforced concrete shear core building. The output-only modal identification results obtained from ambient vibration measurements of the building were used to update a finite element model of the structure. The starting model of the structure was developed from the information provided in the design documentation of the building. Different parameters of the model were then modified using an automated procedure to improve the correlation between measured and calculated modal parameters. Careful attention was placed to the selection of the parameters to be modified by the updating software in order to ensure that the necessary changes to the model were realistic and physically realisable and meaningfull. The paper highlights the model updating process and provides an assessment of the usefulness of using an automatic model updating procedure combined with results from an output-only modal identification.