Structural Identification of a Masonry Tower Based on Operational Modal Analysis

Abstract

A wide program of structural assessment has been carried out by Politecnico di Milano on the historic bell tower of the church Chiesa Collegiata in Arcisate (Varese, northern Italy). Within this context, the first part of the article summarizes the results obtained from the application of the stochastic subspace identification method to ambient response data collected in two dynamic tests, carried out in June 2007 and June 2008. Next presented is the vibration-based methodology developed for the calibration of a three-dimensional finite element model of the tower, consisting in the successive application of systematic manual tuning, sensitivity analysis, and simple system identification algorithm.

Keywords:

• ambient vibration testing
• finite element (FE) model
• masonry tower
• sensitivity analysis
• systematic manual tuning
• structural identification

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Sincere thanks are due to M. Antico, M. Cucchi (VibLab, Laboratory of Vibrations and Dynamic Monitoring of Structures, Politecnico di Milano) and PhD N. Gallino who assisted the authors in conducting the field tests.