The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

A transducer for measuring the internal forces in the columns of a frame-wall reinforced concrete structure

Sause, Richard; Bertero, Vitelmo V.

UCB/EERC-83/05, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1983-05, 102 pages (515/S3/1983)

The authors describe the design, development, calibration, and installation of an internal force transducer (IFT) capable of accurately measuring the internal forces of the first-story columns of a 1/5-scale model of a seven-story frame-wall reinforced concrete structure and discuss its application in the structure under static and dynamic loading conditions. The authors found the performance of the IFT acceptable, both for the primary purpose of studying the dynamic response of the 1/5-scale model to earthquake ground motions and for short-term static loading of the model. However, as a consequence of contamination of the exposed surface of the applied shear and axial strain gages used in this internal force transducer, long-term zero drifts make analysis of results obtained under sustained loading conditions or from long-term effects (internal force redistribution) difficult. Recommendations for improving the design, fabrication, calibration, and installation of similar internal force transducers are formulated.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-83-05.pdf (3 MB)