Application of GPS to monitoring of wind‐induced responses of high‐rise buildings

A new monitoring system using GPS is introduced to measure wind‐induced responses of high‐rise buildings. In this paper, wind‐induced responses of a long‐period structure include relative lateral displacements, acceleration records, and torsional displacements at the top of a building. After comparing responses of a test model measured by GPS with responses obtained by the most commonly used laser displacement meters and accelerometers, the wind‐induced responses of a 66‐story high‐rise building subject to the yellow dust storm were measured by the GPS‐based monitoring system. Based on the field measurement, it is concluded that the complete motion history of a high‐rise building can be monitored by GPS.