The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Experimental error propagation in pseudodynamic testing

Shing, Pui-shum B.; Mahin, Stephen A.

UCB/EERC-83/12, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1983-06, 175 pages (530/S52/1983)

This study looks into the possible sources and characteristics of experimental feedback errors in pseudodynamic testing and presents a general analytical technique for studying the error-propagation behavior of step-by-step integration algorithms. Results indicate certain systematic experimental errors as most detrimental to pseudodynamic testing, particularly to multiple degree-of-freedom tests. Significant energy effects are induced by these errors, and the higher frequency modes of a test specimen can be erroneously excited. Two numerical methods are proposed to compensate for these error effects and to suppress the spurious growth of higher frequency responses. It is shown that reliable pseudodynamic test results can be obtained if adequate experimental equipment and technique and appropriate numerical methods for mitigating error-propagation effects are used. Guidelines for achieving reliable pseudodynamic test results are discussed.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-83-12.pdf (6 MB)