Life-Cycle Analysis and Assessment in Civil Engineering: Towards an

Integrated Vision – Caspeele, Taerwe & Frangopol (Eds)

© 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-62633-1

Parametric identification and damage assessment of real buildings

G.S. Wang & Y.R. Li

Department of Construction Engineering, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

F.K. Huang
Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Tamkang University,
New Taipei City, Taiwan

ABSTRACT A Frequency-Domain recursive hybrid Genetic Algorithm was developed by the author in 2015.
The time history of the measurement is divided into a series of time intervals, and then the model of equivalent
linear system is employed to identify the modal parameters of the system for each time interval. The differential
equation can be transformed into the frequency domain by finite Fourier transform and the response in the
frequency domain can be solved by algebraic equations instead of differentials equations for each time interval.
In this paper, this new identification strategy is applied to the identification of two real buildings to monitor the
change of modal parameters. The parameters of these structures are identified using the response records of the
structure under the attack of earthquakes of different intensities. By employing the Maximum Softening Index
and Approximate Story Damage Index, we can determine the damage states of these buildings.

1 INTRODUCTION proposed method called the MV method. The numer-

Nowadays, many civil structures in Taiwan area,
including buildings and bridges, are installed with
Strong-Motion Systems. Consequently, identification
of either linear or nonlinear structural behaviors of
these buildings, using the data collected from the
accelerographs installed on them, has become an
important discipline due to the increasing need to esti-
mate the behavior of a system with partially unknown
dynamics. In addition to updating the structural param-
eters for better response prediction, system identifica-
tion techniques also facilitate the monitoring of current
state or damage state of the structures.
Most of the identification methods are calculus-
based search method. A good initial guess of the
parameter and gradient or higher-order derivatives of
the objective function are generally required. There
is always a possibility to fall into a local minimum.
On the other hand, genetic algorithms (GAs) are opti-
mization procedures inspired by natural evolution.
They model natural processes, such as selection, re-
combination, and mutation, and work on populations
of individuals instead of a single solution. In this
regard, the algorithms are parallel and global search
techniques that search multiple points, and they are
more likely to obtain a global solution. Many GA appli-
cations have been performed on a variety of optimiza-
tion problems in engineering area. More applications
have been on structural identification. Koh et al. (2003)
proposed a hybrid strategy of exploiting the merits
of GA and local search operator. Two local search
methods were studied: an existing SW method and a
ical study showed that the hybrid strategy performs
better than the GA alone. Wang & Lin (2005) applied
the real-coded GA to structural identification prob-
lems. The validity and the efficiency of the proposed
GA strategy were explored for the cases of systems
with simulated input/output measurements. Moreover,
the strategy was also applied to the real structure.
Genetic algorithms (GAs) are global search techniques
for optimization. However, they are inherently slow,
and are not good at hill-climbing. In order to speed up
the convergence to the optimal solutions, a hybrid GA
identification strategy that combines Gauss-Newton
way as the local search technique was also proposed
and verified by the author (Wang 2009).
The parameters of some real buildings may be
altered with the change of the amplitude of vibration,
and the identified parameters may not reflect the real
state of the structure if we only use a model of a linear
system to represent the structure. Consequently, a new
system identification method called recursive hybrid
genetic algorithm, which can identify the change of
parameters, was developed for the purpose (Wang,
Tsai & Huang, 2013). The time history of the mea-
surement is divided into a series of time intervals, and
then the model of equivalent linear system is employed
to identify the modal parameters of the system.
In the implementation of the recursive hybrid GA in
the time domain, numerical integration is essential for
solving the differential equation in the time domain.
This integration procedure may result in a remarkable
computational time. In order to accelerate the identifi-
cation process, a recursive hybrid GA in the frequency

245
domain is developed. The differential equation can
be transformed into the frequency domain by finite
Fourier transform. The numerical time for solving the
algebraic equations can be reduced tremendously com-
pared to the time for solving the differential equation.
The proposed algorithm has been explored by com-
paring the results of the predicted response with the
measured response for both the simulated SDOF linear
system and the simulated MDOF linear system with or
without noise contamination (Wang & Huang, 2015).
In this paper, this new identification strategy will first
be applied to the identification of the office build-
ing of National Center for Research on Earthquake
Engineering (NCREE) located in Taipei subjected to
4 sets of earthquake including the Chi-Chi earthquake.
Then, the algorithm will also be applied to the iden-
tification of building of the Shih Hsien Elementary Figure 1. Structure of hybrid GA.
School located in Chai-Yi City. Based on the identifi-
cation results, damage assessment will be performed displacement and velocity for each time interval as
thereafter. well. The differential equation can be transformed into
the frequency domain by finite Fourier transform and
the response in the frequency domain can be solved by
2 HYBRID GENETIC ALGORITHM algebraic equations instead of differentials equations.

Genetic algorithm is a stochastic search technique 3.1 Identification model of a MDOF system
based on natural selection and genetics, developed
by Holland (1962). Genetic algorithms model natural In this section, we will develop the identification
processes, such as selection, recombination, mutation, model of a multiple degree of freedom system with
migration, and competition. The algorithms work on multiple outputs or measurements. The motion equa-
populations of individuals instead of a single solu- tion of a MDOF system subjected to a single excitation
tion. In this way, the search is performed in a parallel can be transformed into modal equation through mode
manner. However, better results can be obtained by superposition as
introducing multiple subpopulations. Every subpopu-
lation evolves over a few generation isolated (like the
single population GA) before one or more individu-
where usm is the modal displacement in mode m at the
als are exchanged between subpopulation using the
sth DOF, and Psm the effective participation factor in
mechanisms of migration and competition. The mul-
mode m at the sth DOF associated with the ground
tipopulation GA models the evolution of a species in
motion üg
a way more similar to nature than single population
GAs are inherently slow and are poor at hill-
climbing. In order to compensate the computational
inefficiency in hill-climbing when the solution yielded
by GA approaches the optimal value, a local search
operator, the Gauss-Newton method is merged to the in which [M ] is the mass matrix, {φm } the mode shape
GA strategy. This method is performed after com- in mode m, and {l} the ground influence coefficient
pleting the evolution process of every 10 genera- matrix with elements 0 and 1. The finite Fourier trans-
tions. Accordingly, a new hybridization of a GA with form of relative response of usm , u̇sm , and üsm over a
Gauss-Newton method is formed. Figure 1 shows the finite record length of T or each non-overlapping time
structure for such a hybrid GA. interval can be defined as

3 FREQUENCY-DOMAIN RECURSIVE
HYBRID GENETIC ALGORITHM

The method employed here is called the Frequency-

Domain recursive hybrid Genetic Algorithm. In this
method, the time history of the measurement is
divided into a series of non-overlapping time inter-
vals, and then the model of equivalent linear system
is transformed into frequency domain to identify the
modal parameters of the system and the difference of

246
 T
where Usm (ω) is the finite Fourier transform of the
modal displacement in mode m at the sth DOF. Trans-
forming equation (1) into frequency domain by using
the terms defined in equation (3∼5), yields

T
where Usm (ω), the Fourier transform of the relative
displacement, is denoted as Usm (ω) for simplicity.
The parameters vsm and dsm are the differences in the
mth modal velocity and displacement at the sth DOF
between the beginning and the end of the record seg-
ment of duration T . The measured response in this
paper is the relative acceleration and the associated
Fourier transform of üsm can be derived as

Combining the above modal contributions will yield
the following measurement expression for the trans-
formed relative acceleration
In order to optimize the system, error function in
term of transformed response for each measurement
is defined in such a way that it is quadratic in terms of
the parameters.
where Y (i, j) and V (i, j) are the Fourier transforms of
the measured response and identified response for the
ith sampled frequency with respective to the jth mea-
surement. The Notations Re and Im represent the real
and imaginary parts of the response. If there are K
measurements, the root mean square error function,
denoted as the error index, E.I ., is expressed as a
function of the error indices of the measurements
Figure 2. Structure of frequency-domain recursive hybrid
GA in the for MDOF system.
into non-overlapping time intervals or time windows
by setting the number of time instants or sampling
points, na, in the beginning. In order to account for the
effect of the difference of velocity and displacement
between the beginning and the end of the each inter-
val, vsm and dsm are also implemented as the parameters
to be identified in addition to the system parameters
2
2ξm ωm , ωm and Psm . Then the model of equivalent lin-
ear system in the frequency domain and the recursive
hybrid GA is employed to identify the parameters of
the system and the differences of displacement and
velocity for each time interval. The response in fre-
quency domain can be computed using equation (7).
The best five individuals or system parameters are
replicated and used as the individuals of the initial
population of next interval. This process will be con-
tinued until the measurements of the rest of the time
interval are implemented. Figure 2 shows the pro-
cedure of the proposed Frequency-domain recursive
hybrid genetic algorithm where the red dashed box
represented the evolution process of hybrid genetic
algorithm illustrated in Figure 1.
4 DAMAGE INDICES

Quantitative measurement of structural damage during

3.2 Recursive hybrid genetic algorithm
In the new method, the excitation measurement and
the response measurement are automatically divided
earthquakes has always been a challenging problem to
the structural engineers. Various damage indices have
been proposed with the objective of quantifying the
structural damage in prototype and real structures sub-
jected to seismic excitation. These indices make use
of different parameters such as drift, natural period

247
of structure, energy absorption and cyclic fatigue in
estimating the damage level.
4.1 Maximum softening index
Dipasquale and Cakmak (1990) define the maximum
softening for the one-dimensional case, where only
the fundamental modal frequency is considered. The
index is given by
where Tund is the undamaged natural period and Tm
is the maximum natural period during the excita-
tion duration. The maximum softening demonstrates
a measure of combination of both the stiffness degra-
dation and plasticity effect.
4.2 Modal assurance criterion
Modal assurance criterion (MAC) indicates correla-
tion between two measured mode shapes from two
different states (Dipasquale & Cakmak, 1989). Let φA
and φB be the undamaged and damaged mode shapes,
respectively, MAC is then defined for mode j and k as
follows:
where N is the number of coordinates included, and i
is the coordinate of column vector associated with the
specific mode shape. In other words, (φA )ij denotes
the ith coordinate of the jth column (mode) of φA and
(φB )ik the ith coordinate of the kth column (mode)
of φB . MAC values vary from 0 to 1, i.e., 0 for no
correlation and 1 for full correlation (no damage). If
the mode shapes φA and φB are identical, then MAC
will be 1 indicating full correlation. Thus, MAC can be
used to detect existence of damage by identifying these
values alterd from their original values for individual
modes, i.e., j = k.
4.3 Approximation story damage index
We can define the damage of a building as the reduc-
tion in percentage of story stiffness before and after
damage. However, for most buildings, the floor mass
distribution is generally uniform and the approxi-
mate value for the lth story damage index (ASDI(l, j),
Approximation Story Damage Index) can be written
as (Wang Lin, & Yen, 2007)
248
Obviously, the value of ASDI(l, j) can be easily
obtained based on only one set of modal parameters (ωj
and φ j ). The value of the ASDI(l, j) is shown between
0 (no damage) and 1 (collapse) in terms of the modal
parameters of the jth mode.
5 IDENTIFICATION AND DAMAGE
ASSESSMENT OF REAL BUILDINGS
5.1 Identification and damage assessment of
NCREE building
The first building identified here is the office build-
ing of National Center for Research on Earthquake
Engineering (NCREE) located in Taipei, Taiwan. This
building is a 6-story reinforced concrete structure.
Thirty channels of seismographs are installed. Seis-
mographs on the basement will be used as the input
ground motion, and those on the third floor and the
six floor (or the top floor) be used as the measured
response. Four sets of strong motion records collected
during earthquakes occurred on July 11 of 1998(with
magnitude of 5.07), Chi-Chi earthquake on September
21 of 1999 (with magnitude of 7.3), 1022 earthquake
or Chia-Yi earthquake on October 22 of 1999 (with
magnitude of 6.4) and 614 earthquake on June 14
of 2001 (with magnitude of 6.3) are analyzed. This
building seems to experience no visible damages under
the attacks of the earthquakes. However, the dynamic
parameters may be altered even though the damage of
the structure is slight or invisible.
To get knowledge of the damage state of the struc-
ture, single-input-multiple-output model is utilized
to perform the identification of modal parameters
of the structure. Through spectral analysis, estima-
tion of frequencies is made and rational ranges of
these parameters can be obtained when performing the
recursive hybrid GA identification procedure in the
frequency domain. Modal damping ratio, modal fre-
quencies, and participations factors can be obtained
on the basis of either longitudinal (L) or transverse (T)
measurements. As a result, by monitoring the variation
of the identified parameters, the damage assessment of
the structure will be performed and the damage state
of the structure will then be evaluated.
We can study the variation of the identified param-
eters by plotting them in the same figure. Figure 3
shows the change of the modal frequency for the
motions recorded in the longitudinal direction during
these earthquakes. From the plot of the fundamental
frequency, we can see that the modal frequency main-
tained at a range between 22.9 rad/sec and 24.6 rad/sec
during the struck of the first earthquake (EQ before
921). During the struck of the Chi-Chi earthquake, the
fundamental frequency maintained at 24.53 rad/sec
and then dropped to 23.86 rad/sec in the middle of
the earthquake. One month later, the fundamental fre-
quency during the 1022 earthquake went up to about
27.13 rad/sec in the beginning. Finally, the fundamen-
tal frequency during the 614 earthquake decreased to
about 23.856 rad/sec in the end, which is about 3%
Figure 3. Variation of modal frequency in the longitudinal Figure 5. Variation of maximum softening index in the
direction for NCREE building. longitudinal direction for NCREE building.

Figure 4. Variation of modal frequency in the transverse Figure 6. Variation of maximum softening index in the
direction for NCREE building. transverse direction for NCREE building.

lower than the value 24.6 rad/sec yielded during the

first earthquake.
Figure 4 shows the change of the modal fre-
quency for the motions recorded in the transverse
direction during these earthquakes. The modal fre-
quency stayed at around 21.47 rad/sec∼23.83 rad/sec
during the struck of the first earthquake. The fun-
damental modal frequency decreased to 21.9 rad/sec Figure 7. Variation of MAC index in the longitudinal
under the struck of 921 earthquake. During the 1022 direction for NCREE building.
earthquake, the fundamental frequency went down
to 21.62 rad/sec. Finally, the fundamental frequency
decreased to 21.53 rad/sec at the end of the last earth-
quake. In conclusions, the modal frequency decreased
from 23.83 rad/sec to 21.53 rad/sec.
The maximum softening index DM is evaluated
using the results of the identified modal frequency of
in the longitudinal direction. The parameter identified
at the beginning of the earthquake on July 11, 1998 is
implemented as the undamaged frequency or the base-
line frequency. The maximum softening index of the Figure 8. Variation of maximum softening index in the
transverse direction for NCREE building.
first mode, DM , is then evaluated and plotted in Fig-
ure 5. To compare the results with the intensities of the
earthquake, red line shows the PGA value in the longi- values of the MAC(1,1) in the longitudinal direc-
tudinal direction. The result seems to follow the usual tion during the four earthquakes considered. The
trend of increasing maximum softening index (dam- MAC(1,1) index varied between 0.9978 and 1 which
age) with increasing excitation amplitude since that the is very close to 1. From this result, the index seems to
structural stiffness will decrease with the increase of be not able to reflect the amplitude of the excitation.
the measured response amplitude. The index increased Figure 8 illustrates the values of the MAC(1,1) values
to 6.1% at the end of the Chi-Chi earthquake. Finally, in the transverse direction. The MAC(1,1) index var-
this index returned to 0.86%. ied between 0.9995 and 1. Again, the index seems to
The result in the transverse direction is illustrated be not able to reflect the amplitude of the excitation.
in Figure 6. The index of the first mode increased to TheASDI index can be evaluated using the results of
8.16% at the end of the Chi-Chi earthquake. Finally, identified modal frequencies and the identified effec-
this index returned to 9.29% at the end of the 614 tive participation factors of the top floor and the third
earthquake. floor in the first mode. ASDI(1,1) reflect the damage
The MAC index can be evaluated using the results state of lower floor level from the first floor to the third
of identified effective participation factors of the top floor since we don’t have the effective participation
floor and the third floor. Figure 7 summarized the factors of the second floor to calculate the term φ in

249
Figure 9. Variation of ASDI index of the third floor in the
longitudinal direction for NCREE building.
Figure 10. Variation of ASDI index of the top floor in the
longitudinal direction for NCREE building.
Figure 11. Variation of ASDI index of the third floor in the
transverse direction for NCREE building.
equation (12). Similarly, ASDI(2,1) reflect the damage
state of upper level from the third floor to the top floor
since we can use the effective participation factors of
the third floor to calculate the term φ in equation
(12). Figures 9 and 10 summarized the values of the
ASDI(1,1) index and ASDI(2,1) index in the longitudi-
nal direction during the four earthquakes considered.
The average value for each earthquake is computed
and plot as a red dashed line in the figure for the
following discussion. ASDI(1,1) index and ASDI(2,1)
index increased to 7.4% and 5.53% under the attack of
Chi-Chi earthquake and dropped to 1.96% and 1.72%
under the attack of the 1022 earthquake. These two
indices became 4.1% and −0.91% under the attack of
the last earthquake. Figures 11 and 12 summarized the
values of the ASDI(1,1) index and ASDI(2,1) index in
the transverse direction. These two indices increased to
15.65% and 11.56% under the attack of the last earth-
quake. This result indicates that the building has slight
damage in this direction.
5.2 Identification and damage assessment of Shih
Hsien Elementary building
The other building identified here is the six-story rein-
forced concrete building of the Shih Hsien Elemen-
tary School (SHES) located in Chai-Yi City, Taiwan.
250
Figure 12. Variation of ASDI index of the top floor in the
transverse direction for NCREE building.
Figure 13. Variation of maximum softening index in the
longitudinal direction for SHES building.
Figure 14. Variation of maximum softening index in the
transverse direction for SHES building.
Three-component seismographs are installed on the
first floor, third floor and the top floor of the building.
Accelerograms collected during earthquakes can be
utilized to monitor the change of the structural param-
eters. Same four sets of strong motion records are
analyzed. Single-input-multiple-output model is also
utilized to perform the identification of modal parame-
ters of the structure. Again, by monitoring the variation
of the identified parameters, the damage state of the
structure will then be evaluated.
The maximum softening index of the first mode,
DM ,1 , in the longitudinal direction is plotted in Fig-
ure 13. The index is 14.73% during the Chi-Chi
earthquake and decreased to 10.33% during the 1022
earthquake. The index reduced to 4.82% at the end of
614 earthquake. The result in the transverse direction
is illustrated in Figure 14. The index of the first mode
increased to 19.74% at the end of 1022 earthquake.
Finally, this index returned to 11.97%.
Figures 15–16 summarized the values of the
ASDI(1,1) index and the ASDI(2,1) index in the
longitudinal direction during the four earthquakes
considered. The value of the ASDI(1,1) index and
the ASDI(2,1) index increased to 16.96% and 3.09%
under the attack of the 614 earthquake. Figures 17–18
summarized the values of the ASDI(1,1) index and
ASDI(2,1) index in the transverse direction. These two
indices increased to 27.07% and 19.18% under the

Figure 15. Variation of ASDI index of the third floor in the
longitudinal direction for SHES building.
Figure 16. Variation of ASDI index of the top floor in the
longitudinal direction for SHES building.
Figure 17. Variation of ASDI index of the third floor in the
transverse direction for SHES building.
Figure 18. Variation of ASDI index of the top floor in the
transverse direction for SHES building.
attack of the last earthquake. This result indicates that
the building has slight damage in this direction.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper employed a new identification strategy
called the frequency domain recursive hybrid genetic
algorithm for nonlinear system. The time history of
the measurement is divided into a series of time
intervals, and then the model of equivalent linear sys-
tem is employed to identify the modal parameters of
the system and the differences of velocity and dis-
placement between the beginning and the end of the
record for each interval. The differential equation can
be transformed into the frequency domain by finite
251
Fourier transform. The numerical time for solving the
algebraic equations can be reduced tremendously com-
pared to the time for solving the differential equation.
The algorithm has been applied to the identification
of buildings of NCREE and Shih Hsien Elemen-
tary School. The damage assessments were performed
based on the identification results:
1. From the identification results of National Earth-
quake Engineering Research Center office build-
ing, we can see that the fundamental frequency
in the longitudinal direction during the 614 earth-
quake decreased to about 23.856 rad/sec in the end,
which is about 3% lower than the value 24.6 rad/sec
yielded during the first earthquake. In the trans-
verse direction, the modal frequency decreased
from 23.83 rad/sec to 21.53 rad/sec
2. The maximum softening index DM for the office
building of NCREE was evaluated using the results
of the identified modal frequency. This index in
the transverse direction is 9.29% after the struck
of the 614 earthquake. This indicates a quite slight
damage state. The values of the ASDI(1,1) index
and ASDI(2,1)index in the transverse direction.
increased to 15.65% and 11.56% under the attack of
the last earthquake. These values also indicate that
the building has slight damage in this direction.
3. The maximum softening index DM for the SHES
building was also evaluated using the results of the
identified modal frequency. This index in the trans-
verse direction is 11.97% after the struck of the
last earthquake. This also indicates a quite slight
damage state in this direction . The values of the
ASDI(1,1) index and ASDI(2,1)index in the trans-
verse direction. increased to 27.07% and 19.18%
under the attack of the last earthquake. These values
again indicate that the building has slight damage
in this direction.
4. The MAC index seems to be not able to capture the
damage state of the structure since the values are
very close to 1.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Cen-
tral Weather Bureau of Taiwan and Prof. C.C. Lin
of National Chung-Shin University for their effort to
collect the accelerograms.
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