The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Dynamic properties of McKinley School buildings

Rea, Dixon; Bouwkamp, Jack G.; Clough, Ray W.

UCB/EERC-68/04, Earthquake Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, 1968-11, 134 pages (545.1/R35/1968)

Dynamic tests have been conducted on the old McKinley School buildings in Santa Clara County, California. Typically, the buildings had three basic modes of vibration that have been designated transverse, longitudinal, and flexure of the roof diaphragm. The resonant frequencies of transverse and longitudinal modes ranged from 7 to 10 cps, and the associated damping capacities from 3 to 4 percent. The resonant frequencies of the flexure modes of the roof diaphragm ranged from 6 to 10 cps and the associated damping capacities from 1 to 3 percent. It is concluded that the dynamic response of these modes to earthquake excitation can be predicted adequately by means of a linear viscously damped mathematical model.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/EERC/EERC-68-04.pdf (20 MB)