Structural Monitoring

Man-made structures, such as bridges and buildings, have characteristic vibration modes. Instrumenting these structures allows their dynamic behavior to be assessed over time, especially during strong earthquakes.

Acceleration is the parameter most commonly studied, which is why accelerographs are used for instrumentation. In this section, the Seismic Engineering Laboratory provides real-time information from several sites of interest equipped with two or more accelerographs.

When no earthquake is occurring, the recorded motion reflects normal ambient vibrations at the site. All calculations shown use a one-hour time window, and the time histories correspond to the north–south (NS) component.