A Method for Extracting Building Empirical Capacity Curves from Earthquake Response Data

A method is presented for extracting empirical capacity curves from building earthquake response data. The method can be applied to buildings with acceleration response records from each floor to develop story empirical capacity curves assuming the building has flexible columns and rigid floors. The method can also be applied to buildings with acceleration response records from the roof and ground to develop a fundamental mode empirical capacity curve. The method relies on extracting the restoring force and relative displacement of the system by removing damping force, considered as equivalent viscous damping, from the inertial response, using a proposed viscous damping identification procedure. The method is demonstrated using data from a small-scale, three-story experimental model subjected to strong base motion.