Full-Scale Validation of Finite Element Models for Tall Buildings

While high-rise construction serves as one of the most challenging projects undertaken by society each year, tall buildings are one of the few constructed facilities whose design relies solely upon analytical and scaled models, which, though based upon fundamental mechanics and years of research and experience, have yet to be systematically validated in full-scale. In response to this deficiency, a full-scale monitoring program was initiated through the combined efforts of the authors and includes three tall buildings in Chicago: two steel and one concrete, providing a sampling of some of the world’s 25 tallest buildings, with structural systems common to high-rise construction. Through the course of this program, the response of the buildings, as predicted from wind tunnel tests, is compared to the observed level of response for a variety of wind events. A secondary validation being conducted in the program, and the subject of the present paper, involves the in-situ periods of vibration and those predicted by finite element models constructed using commercially available software. This paper shall overview the assumptions made in the development of finite element models for each of the buildings monitored in the program. Predicted mode shapes and periods of vibration are discussed. These periods of vibration are then compared to those observed in full-scale to verify the accuracy of assumptions made in their development. A discussion of assumed and observed levels of inherent structural damping is also provided.