Site-Structure Resonance as a Proxy for Structural Damage

Since 1992, the reconnaissance teams of the German Task Force for Earthquakes have undertaken numerous field missions to disaster areas after strong earthquakes worldwide. During these missions, a unique database of damage cases has been collected, which serves as the basis for examining whether site-structure resonance effects contribute to building damage. The selected buildings that partly experienced slight to moderate damage during a recent major event have been experimentally tested in order to identify their structural parameters and to allow a calibration of the structural building models. In addition, instrumental noise recordings were made directly at the building sites to derive the ranges of predominant site periods. By correlating the ranges of predominant site periods with the building's capacity curves, representing the inelastic displacement behavior under lateral effects, a quick survey procedure has been developed to estimate the impact of agreements between periods of the site and the structure contributing to structural earthquake damage.