Ambient Response Analysis of Some Tall Structures

Values of natural frequencies and critical damping ratios are estimated for eight tall structures from statistical analysis of their ambient accelerograms. These structures include six reinforced concrete buildings, one steel building, and one steel flagpole. Frequencies are computed from spectral density estimates and damping from autocorrelograms of filtered data. At least four frequencies are estimated for each of the seven buildings. Damping percentages calculated range from 0.4% to 2.9% of critical. A comparison is also made for one of the buildings of its computed response parameters with results obtained from an independent investigation.