Real‐time structural monitoring of Building 350 at Del Valle University

Design errors, misuse, and natural or accidental events can cause small and cumulative damages or large and sudden damages that can deteriorate structural systems or cause their collapse. Structural monitoring consists in the permanent real‐time tracking of information about the condition and performance of a structure. This paper presents the development, validation, and implementation of the structural monitoring system for building 350 at Del Valle University, located in Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The system uses the SSI and natural excitation technique with the eigensystem realization algorithm methodologies for modal identification and a specialized event‐recognition algorithm based on the standard deviation analysis of vibrations. The dynamic behavior monitoring of the building has been conducted in real‐time since January 2012, and six seismic events have been successfully recognized. The computational tool was validated using a finite element model with which the effect of variation in mass was evaluated.