Structural assessment of a half-built building by vibration tests

Structural quality of a half-built building was investigated by different experimental approaches. Vibration test was specially employed as it is a non-destructive method, which can be performed without the interruption of the construction. The principle of the tests is identifying the dynamic behaviour of the structural element by the measurement of structure response (acceleration or velocity) under certain excitations. Various floor locations are chosen for the evaluation of specific structural elements. For the comparison and verification purpose, numerical and analytical methods are also used for structural analysis. By the comparison between theoretical estimations and tested results on a reference structure, different methods are verified. It shows the eigenfrequency of (complex) structural elements/systems can be estimated accurately with relatively simple analytical formulas. Therefore, the analytical method was further used for the comparison with the vibration tests and the assessment of structural quality.