Characterization of a 21-Story Reinforced Building in the Valley of Mexico Using MEMS Accelerometers.

Abstract:

Low cost MEMS accelerometers are becoming increasingly higher resolution making them useful in strong motion studies. Here we present a building response analysis in the lakebed zone of the Valley of Mexico. The Valley of Mexico represents one of the highest seismic risk locations in the world and incorporates Mexico City and part of Mexico State. More than 20 million people live there and it is the political and economic center of Mexico. In addition the valley has very high site effects with amplifications 100 – 500 times that of sites outside of the basin (Singh et al., 1988; Singh et al., 1995). We instrumented a 21-story building with MEMS accelerometers as part of the Quake Catcher Network or Red Atrapa Sismos as it is called in Mexico. The building known as the Centro Cultural de Tlateloco is located in an important historical and political area as well as a zone with some of the highest amplifications in the Valley of Mexico that had some of the worst destruction after the 1985 M8.1 Michoacan earthquake. During the earthquake most of the buildings that failed were between 7 – 18 stories tall. The peak accelerations near Tlateloco were at periods of 2 seconds. Since the earthquake the building has been retrofitted with N-S crossing supports to help withstand another earthquake. We present the measurements of frequencies and amplifications between floors for the length of the building.