Ambient Vibration Testing of a Bell Tower, Switzerland

Ambient Vibration Testing of a Bell Tower Switzerland

This case consider measurements conducted on the bell tower of the St. Peter & Paul church in Zürich, Switzerland.

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The measurements and analysis presented here are performed by Dr. Reto Cantieni, RCI Dynamics, Switzerland.

This case consider measurements conducted on the bell tower of the St. Peter & Paul church in Zürich, Switzerland. The measurements were conducted using a LMS Pimento data acquisition system. The sensors were PCB 93B31 accelerometers. The measurement campaign was divided into four Test Setups of six channels each. Three reference sensors were placed in to top of the tower in two perpendicular directions, and the rest of the sensors were roving from one Test Setup to another.

Below some pictures from the test is shown:

Mounting of two PCB accelerometers next to the church clock.

The measurement control station located just beneath the church bell.

The modal analysis was made ARTeMIS Modal Pro using Extended Unweighted Principal Components Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI-UPCX).

Related Information

The bell tower test is described in more details in the following paper:

R. Cantieni.
Experimental Methods used in System Identification of Civil Engineering Structures.
2nd. Workshop: Problemi di vibrazioni nelle strutture civili e nelle costruzioni meccaniche, Perugia, 10-11 Giugno, 2004.