Operational modal analysis and finite element modeling of a low-rise timber building

Abstract: Timber is a building material that is becoming more common and of interest for use in high-rise buildings. One of the reasons is that timber requires less energy input for the manufacturing process of the material compared to non-wood based materials. When designing high- rise timber buildings it is of great significance to understand the dynamic behavior of the structure. One method to obtain the dynamic properties is to use Operational Modal Analysis, which is based on the structural response from operational use. Finite element (FE) analysis is a tool which can be used for dynamic analysis for large structures. In this study an Operation Modal Analysis (OMA) was conducted on a four-story timber building in Växjö. A finite element model was created of the same building using commercial FE packages. Based on the mode shapes and natural frequencies obtained from the OMA, the FE model was fine-tuned. The purpose of this thesis is to gain knowledge of which parameters that might have a significant role in finite element modelling for a structural dynamic analysis. The aim is to develop a finite element model that accurately simulates the dynamic behavior of the tested building. It was shown from the result that is possible with an enough detailed FE model to capture the dynamic behaviour of a structure. The parameters that had the largest effect on the result can be pointed to the mass and the stiffness of the structure.