Simultaneous Identification of Stiffness and Damping of Building Structures Using Limited Earthquake Records

A new method of stiffness-damping simultaneous identification of building structures is proposed using limited earthquake records. It is shown that when horizontal accelerations are recorded at the upper and lower floors of a specific story in a shear building model, the story stiffness and the damping ratio can be identified uniquely. The viscous damping coefficient and the linear hysteretic damping ratio can also be identified in a numerical model structure. The accuracy of the present identification method is investigated through the actual limited earthquake records in a base-isolated building.