Identifying Loading and Response Mechanisms from Ten Years of Performance Monitoring of a Tall Building

In 1993, Shimizu Corporation provided the opportunity to record manually, readings of stress and strain gauges they had embedded at the 18th story of a 65-story office tower under construction in Singapore. Static readings continued during construction and long after, and capitalizing on access to the building and assistance of both contractor and owner, monitoring systems for tracking wind, acceleration, and deflection were installed and progressively upgraded. Further, a comprehensive ambient vibration survey and finite element model updating exercise provided a thoroughly validated analytical model of the structure. This model has been used in parallel with the analog wind and tremor “super sensor” of the building itself to provide direct evidence and characterization of the seismic and wind loadings on the building. This paper describes the evolution of the monitoring system and its capabilities, together with some of the insights the system provided into structural and loading mechanisms during its operational life until early 2005.