GUIDELINE FOR ANSS SEISMIC MONITORING 

OF ENGINEERED CIVIL SYSTEMS—Version 1.0 

Public Review Draft 

Prepared by the ANSS Structural Instrumentation Guideline 

Committee 

Open-File Report 2005-1039, March 2005 

Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring 

of Engineered Civil Systems 

Public Review Draft 

Prepared by the 

ANSS Structural Instrumentation Guideline Committee1 

Open-File Report 2005-1039 

March 2005 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey 

editorial standards or with the North American Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, firm, or

product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. 

Government. 

1Members listed in Appendix A 

Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 i 

March 15, 2005

Preface for Users of the Guideline 

The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) is a USGS initiative to modernize and broadly 

expand earthquake monitoring and reporting in the U.S., encompassing national, regional, urban, 

and structural monitoring networks. In its first five years (2000-2004), significant progress has 

been made, with over 500 new seismic sensors installed nationwide, primarily in and near highrisk urban areas. Three buildings have also been extensively instrumented, complementing the 

existing inventory of the National Strong Motion Program (NSMP). Software and hardware 

upgrades are nearing completion at the National Earthquake Information Center, and have begun 

within NSMP. Moreover, ANSS has energized broad segments of the earthquake community to 

use rapid notifications and new products like ShakeMap to respond faster and more effectively to 

damaging earthquakes. 

The ANSS requirements document (USGS Circular 1188) calls for installing a total of 3000 

structural monitoring instruments, plus another 3,000 ground response instruments. Together 

these systems measure the severity of shaking in the ground and record the response to those 

motions in selected buildings and other structures. The urgency for obtaining high-quality data 

from instrumented structures shaken by strong earthquakes is spurred by unresolved outstanding 

issues in seismic design, retrofit practices, and codes; by needs for comparison and validation of 

experimental and simulation research; and by the demand from emergency responders to have 

more accurate damage-assessment tools. 

The USGS plan to provide the needed structural response data to the community is detailed in 

this Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems, which provides basic 

guidance for implementing the structural monitoring portion of ANSS. Progress in this area has 

been largely deferred since ANSS began in 2000, pending the completion and implementation of 

this Guideline. Annual ANSS funding will be used to instrument structures, and the USGS will 

use the procedures and recommendations contained in this version of the Guideline to select, 

implement, and operate structural monitoring projects in FY2005 and beyond. 

The ANSS National Steering Committee, chaired by Professor Sharon Wood, particularly 

encouraged the creation and implementation of this Guideline. The National Steering Committee 

has reviewed the Guideline and recommended its use in the first year (FY2005) for selecting 

structures to be instrumented in accord with the priorities identified in the document. It is 

expected that experience implementing the Guideline will result in revisions being made for its 

application in subsequent years. 

The following aspects of the Guideline are briefly highlighted below to help inform prospective 

users of this document. 

• The Guideline is written as a prescriptive document, with the intent to establish a specific 

process to be followed in identifying high-priority needs for structural response data and 

then selecting suitable structures to be instrumented. 
• As is noted in the Guideline, collaborative and co-funded instrumentation projects that 

involve goals different from those of ANSS are certainly desirable, but the ANSS 

technical requirements must be satisfied to enable co-funded collaboration. 

• The Guideline has been written by, and is intended to be applied by, experienced

practicing and academic earthquake engineers (particularly those with structural and 

geotechnical specialization). The principal focus is on collecting data to improve

understanding and predictive modeling of the earthquake response of structures. 

Individuals recommending the instrumentation of a particular structure need to present 

specific technical reasons why the engineering community needs the data. 

• The initial emphasis of the Guideline is on instrumenting and monitoring buildings. 

While there certainly are worthy problems to be resolved in the performance of nonbuilding structures, the Guideline authors, the National Steering Committee, and ANSS 

managers in the USGS agree that the broadest benefits from recording structural response 

data in strong earthquakes will be in improving knowledge of the performance of the 

common types of earthquake-vulnerable buildings. 

• The ANSS planning documents and this Guideline also point out that the goals of 

structural response monitoring include providing data to aid in post-earthquake damage

assessment and recovery. In the initial implementation of ANSS response monitoring, 

high priority is placed on acquiring data to improve the capability of engineers to reliably

assess damage using measurements from structures. Once the improved understanding 

and predictive capabilities are available, they can be applied to rapid damage assessment

and other immediate post-earthquake activities. 

• The Guideline includes a weighted scoring system as part of the preparation of a preproposal (see Section 3.1.2 and Appendices D, E, and F). The scoring system provides a 

way to help the preparer understand the relative priorities that support the goal of the 

program. The total score will not be used as a rigid criterion in evaluating a set of preproposals.

In 2005, the ANSS regions are being asked to widely invite interested parties to nominate

specific structures for instrumentation through the preparation of a pre-proposal in accord with 

the Guideline (see Sections 3.1.2 and 5.3). Identification of candidate instrumentation projects is 

not restricted to the geographic boundaries of the home region of the interested party. Rather, it 

is expected that most pre-proposals would identify structures in regions of high seismic hazard 

and large inventories of buildings. 

Interested parties are encouraged to prepare nominations (pre-proposals) for structures for ANSS 

instrumentation, and submit them according to instructions that will be available soon. In the 

meantime, questions and comments about this element of ANSS may be directed to: 

 William Leith, ANSS Coordinator 

 wleith@usgs.gov 

ii Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 iii 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1188, Requirement for an Advanced National Seismic System 

(ANSS), published in 1998, states that “3000 strong-motion instruments should be installed in 

buildings and structures to resolve outstanding issues in engineering design practice,” and that, 

“...approximately 1/3 ($56m) of the $171m ANSS capital cost should go toward structural 

monitoring.” 

The ANSS Guideline for monitoring the earthquake response of engineered civil systems was 

developed by a team of practicing and academic geotechnical and structural engineers over a five 

month period in 2004. Formed by the ANSS National Steering Committee, the Structural 

Instrumentation Guideline Committee was composed of two geotechnical engineers and nine 

structural engineers. The purpose of the Guideline is to provide ANSS management with specific 

technical requirements for earthquake response monitoring of engineered civil systems 

(buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure) and a process for selecting candidate systems for 

future instrumentation and monitoring. The scope of response monitoring was expanded beyond 

building structures by the ANSS National Steering Committee to include geosystems and 

infrastructure. 

The mission of response monitoring within the ANSS program is to provide data and information 

products that will (1) contribute to earthquake safety through improved understanding and 

predictive modeling of the earthquake response of engineered civil systems and (2) aid in postearthquake response and recovery. The targeted end-users of ANSS response data and products 

are structural and geotechnical design professionals and academicians and emergency planners 

and responders. This Guideline was written to ensure that the ANSS response monitoring 

program provides raw data and metadata in near real-time following an earthquake and 

processed data in a timely manner after the earthquake to the targeted end-users. 

The Guideline identifies instrumentation needs for buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure, 

based on a review of previously published documents and surveys of the design professional 

community. Technical requirements for monitoring-system hardware and information 

technology are presented in the Guideline. Specific requirements for data, metadata, and 

information related to structural response monitoring are identified. The development of relevant 

and useful metadata is needed to speed the transfer of results of post-earthquake analysis of 

engineered-system response into design practice and the research community. An open-data 

policy is essential to ensure that targeted end-users of the data can benefit in near real-time 

following an earthquake. 

The formal national-level selection process ensures that the ANSS funds for response monitoring 

are spent in a cost-effective manner and that the ANSS products are of the highest value to the 

targeted end-users. A two-step proposal process is described. 
iv Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 v 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PREFACE FOR USERS OF THE GUIDELINE............................................................................................................................... i 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................. iii 

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................................................. v 

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 

 1.1 ADVANCED NATIONAL SEISMIC SYSTEM.......................................................................................................... 1 

 1.2 VOCABULARY........................................................................................................................................................... 2 

 1.3 RESPONSE MONITORING OF STRUCTURES AND GEOSYSTEMS ................................................................... 3 

 1.4 MISSION FOR ANSS RESPONSE MONITORING OF ENGINEERED CIVIL SYSTEMS..................................... 5 

 1.5 GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT................................................................................................................................... 7 

 1.6 GUIDELINE ORGANIZATION.................................................................................................................................. 7 

2 PRIORITIES FOR MONITORING CIVIL SYSTEMS ........................................................................................................... 9 

 2.1 NATIONAL RESPONSE MONITORING NEEDS..................................................................................................... 9 

 2.1.1 Engineering Needs for Building Instrumentation............................................................................................ 10 

 2.1.2 Engineering Needs for Geosystem Instrumentation ........................................................................................ 11 

 2.1.3 Engineering Needs for Infrastructure System Instrumentation........................................................................ 11 

 2.2 COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES.................................................................................................................... 12 

 2.3 SETTING NATIONAL PRIORITIES ........................................................................................................................ 13 

 2.4 DATA DISSEMINATION AND COLLECTION ...................................................................................................... 14 

3 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS .......................................................................................................................................... 15 

 3.1 MONITORING APPROACH..................................................................................................................................... 15 

 3.1.1 BASIC GOAL................................................................................................................................................. 15 

 3.1.2 PURPOSE ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 

 3.1.3 BASIC DESIGN REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................................................. 15 

 3.1.4 PAYLOAD MONITORING PROJECTS ....................................................................................................... 16 

 3.2 SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS...................................................................................................................... 16 

 3.2.1 FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS............................................................................................................... 16 

 3.2.2 PROCUREMENT PROCESS......................................................................................................................... 17 

 3.2.3 PACKAGING AND INFRASTRUCTURE.................................................................................................... 17 

 3.2.4 INSTALLATION............................................................................................................................................ 17 

 3.2.5 DOCUMENTATION AND METADATA ..................................................................................................... 18 

 3.3 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................................................................. 18 

 3.3.1 SENSORS ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 

 3.3.2 DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS ................................................................................................................ 19 

 3.3.3 DATA TRANSMISSION ............................................................................................................................... 19 

 3.3.4 NEW TECHNOLOGIES ................................................................................................................................ 19 

 3.4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................. 19 

 3.4.1 DATA FORMATS.......................................................................................................................................... 19 

 3.4.2 METADATA FORMATS............................................................................................................................... 20 

 3.4.3 DATA COMMUNICATION.......................................................................................................................... 20 

4 DATA AND METADATA .................................................................................................................................................... 21 

 4.1 OPEN DATA POLICY AND DATA REQUIREMENTS.......................................................................................... 21 

 4.2 METADATA REQUIREMENTS............................................................................................................................... 21 

5 ANSS INSTRUMENTATION SELECTION PROCESS....................................................................................................... 24 

 5.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 

 5.2 ORGANIZATION ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 

 5.3 SELECTION PROCESS FOR ENGINEERED CIVIL SYSTEMS............................................................................ 24 

APPENDIX A: ANSS Structural Instrumentation Committee ....................................................................................................... 27 

APPENDIX B: References ............................................................................................................................................................ 28 

APPENDIX C: ANSS Interim Data Policy.................................................................................................................................... 29 

APPENDIX D: Selection Criteria for Buildings............................................................................................................................. 30 

APPENDIX E: Selection Criteria for Geosystems.......................................................................................................................... 36 

APPENDIX F: Selection Criteria for Infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 41 

APPENDIX G: Technical Specifications for Instrumentation........................................................................................................ 46 

 G.1. Acceleration Sensors................................................................................................................................................... 46 

 G.2. Cable-Type Displacement Sensors.............................................................................................................................. 47 

 G.3. Weldable Metal Foil Strain Sensors............................................................................................................................ 47 

 G.4. Digitizers..................................................................................................................................................................... 48 
vi Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 1 

1 INTRODUCTION 

1.1 ADVANCED NATIONAL SEISMIC SYSTEM 

The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) is a major national initiative led by the U.S. 

Geological Survey (USGS) that serves the needs of the earthquake monitoring, engineering, and 

research communities as well as national, state, and local governments, emergency response 

organizations, and the general public. Congressional legislation authorizing the ANSS was 

passed in 2000, and funding for new seismic instrumentation and infrastructure development has 

been appropriated beginning in FY2000. When fully operational, ANSS will be an advanced 

monitoring system distributed across the United States that operates with high performance 

standards, gathers critical technical data, and effectively provides timely and reliable earthquake 

products, information, and services to meet the Nation’s needs. The ANSS will automatically 

disseminate timely and authoritative products describing the occurrence of earthquakes, 

earthquake source properties, the distribution of ground shaking, and the response of buildings 

and other engineered civil systems. Most importantly, the ANSS will provide earthquake data, 

derived products, and information to the public, emergency responders, officials, engineers, 

educators, researchers, and other ANSS partners rapidly and in forms that are useful for their 

needs. 

In the guiding document, An Assessment of Seismic Monitoring in the United States: 

Requirements for an Advanced National Seismic System (USGS 1998, p. 20), four fundamental 

goals of ANSS are specified as follows: 

1. Establish and maintain an advanced infrastructure for seismic monitoring 

throughout the United States that operates with high performance standards, 

gathers critical technical data, and effectively provides information products 

and services to meet the Nation’s needs. An Advanced National Seismic 

System should consist of modern seismographs, communication networks, 

data processing centers, and well-trained personnel; such an integrated 

system would constantly record and analyze seismic data and provide timely 

and reliable information on earthquakes and other seismic disturbances. 

2. Continuously monitor earthquakes and other seismic disturbances throughout 

the United States, including earthquakes that may cause a tsunami or precede 

a volcanic eruption, with special focus on regions of moderate to high hazard 

and risk. 

3. Thoroughly measure strong earthquake shaking at ground sites and in 

buildings and critical structures. Focus should be in urban areas and near 

major active fault zones to gather greatly needed data and information for 

reducing earthquake impacts on buildings and structures. 

4. Automatically broadcast information when a significant earthquake occurs, 

for immediate assessment of its impact. Where feasible, for sites at distance 
from the epicenter, broadcast an early warning seconds before strong shaking 

arrives. Provide similar capabilities for automated warning and alert for

tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, equipment modernization, new monitoring 

concepts, and rapid dissemination of information. 

The third goal addresses the need to monitor earthquake shaking in buildings and critical

structures. The 1998 USGS document further details the requirements for structural monitoring 

as follows: 

Another 3,000 strong-motion instruments should be installed in buildings and 

structures to resolve outstanding issues in engineering design practice. The 

strong-motion instruments described here are intended to provide data on critical 

structures, facilities, and buildings for emergency response applications and for

engineering research and applications. 

The ANSS requirement to obtain data from buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure (referred to

herein as “Engineered Civil Systems”) is the focus of this document. This is a major component 

of ANSS, with approximately 1/3 ($56m) of the total proposed capital budget of $171m 

allocated to structural response monitoring equipment. 

1.2 VOCABULARY 

For the purposes of this document the following meanings for commonly used terms are

followed. Some of these terms have a different emphasis or specific meaning than some current 

uses. 

ANSS user - Anyone interested in acquiring ANSS waveforms, products, or 

information (also referred to as end-users or customers) 

ANSS System Response Monitoring Coordinator – The ANSS staff member given 

overall responsibility for the ANSS Structural Monitoring Program. 

ANSS National Steering Committee – A volunteer committee charged with setting

priorities and goals for ANSS and with oversight of operations. 

ANSS Regional Advisory Committee - A volunteer committee charged with assisting 

one of the seven ANSS regions with setting priorities and goals. 

ANSS System Response Monitoring Committee (SRMC) –A volunteer committee 

recommended herein that will recommend priorities and goals for the ANSS 

structural monitoring program. 

building – A walled and roofed structure intended to permanently shelter people, 

goods, and/or facilities 

data - Any or all of waveforms and metadata. 

geosystem – A geotechnically engineered structure such as a landfill, dam, etc. 

2 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 3 

FEMA – The Federal Emergency Management Agency of the Department of 

Homeland Security. 

Infrastructure – Permanent installations supporting human activities, principally 

utilities and transportation systems and related facilities (e.g. roads, bridges, 

pipelines). 

metadata - Information needed to process or interpret input and response waveform 

data (including instrument location, instrument calibration, site geology, site 

velocity structure, construction drawings, design and construction data, 

mathematical models, and earthquake damage data). 

NEES – NSF’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation

NSF – National Science Foundation. 

payload project - A portion of a response monitoring project with primary goal(s) 

other than those identified in this Guideline 

products - Routinely produced earthquake parameters or other results of automatic 

and manual processing (hypocenters, peak values, responses, shake maps, etc.). 

response – Dynamic motion of a system or component thereof due to ground shaking 

input. 

waveforms – Raw, unprocessed, but possibly reformatted ground motion or response 

time series. 

1.3 RESPONSE MONITORING OF STRUCTURES AND GEOSYSTEMS 

In the United States, seismic response monitoring is carried out by many government agencies 

and private organizations. Applications range from the collection of data for research, design 

issues, and building code development to safety-related monitoring of dams, bridges, nuclear 

power plants, and private buildings. Çelebi (2004) summarizes the history and current status of 

structural response monitoring with a focus on the two largest programs, the California Strong 

Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Strong 

Motion Program (NSMP). CSMIP monitors close to 200 structures, while NSMP monitors 51 

buildings, 13 bridges, and 48 infrastructure facilities. 

CSMIP developed and is using formal priorities and criteria for the selection of buildings and the 

configuration of instrumentation systems within those buildings. These criteria are presented in 

CSMIP (1985). There is a predefined matrix of building types and configurations, with the 

general goal of covering a wide range of structural systems representative of the California 

building inventory. Huang and Shakal (2001) updated the CSMIP structural response monitoring 

criteria and priorities in 2001. NSMP structural response monitoring has focused on building 

code-related applications in addition to managing structural response monitoring for partner 

agencies and organizations, but recent applications include extensive building arrays and realtime applications for emergency response and structural health monitoring (Çelebi, 2004). 
General technical guidance for ANSS system response monitoring is provided in the technical 

guidelines for the implementation of ANSS (USGS, 2002). Section 3.5.4 of that document

provides basic instrumentation specifications for “Strong Motion Stations (Structural)”, and 

Section 4.5.6 provides a list of data products, siting criteria, and recommended station design for 

“Structural Monitoring Stations.” While this guidance is useful, it has an overall emphasis on 

ground motion monitoring and lacks needed detail for specifying and designing structural 

monitoring installations. 

COSMOS (Consortium of Organizations for Strong Motion Observation Systems) organized a 

November 2001 “Invited Workshop on Strong-Motion Monitoring of Buildings” (Stepp and 

Nigbor, ed., 2001). This workshop was funded by both NSF and USGS. Funding by the USGS 

was specifically targeted toward the development of recommendations useful to ANSS. The

proceedings of this workshop contain papers on 1) current building instrumentation programs

and guidelines, 2) future needs and priorities for building instrumentation, and 3) instrumentation 

technologies. Working groups discussed various aspects of strategies for building selection. 

Specific recommendations are provided in the following areas: 

• Building types and measurement priorities 

• National priorities 

• Regional priorities 

• Use of new technologies 

• Encouraging private participation 

Since the 2001 COSMOS workshop and the publication of the ANSS Technical Guidelines 

(USGS, 2002), there have been and continue to be important changes in technology, especially in 

the area of structural health monitoring, which should be considered by ANSS. Çelebi (2004) 

describes several of these new technologies as applied to seismic structural response monitoring. 

There are also important developments in earthquake engineering research, and new 

opportunities for future ANSS coordination and collaboration including the National Science 

Foundation’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES: www.nees.org) and the 

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) program on Performance Based Earthquake

Engineering, that were considered in the development of this document. 

The number of instrumented engineered systems is quite small compared to the at-risk inventory 

in the United States. The proceedings of a 1998 NSF-sponsored workshop “Vision 2005: An 

Action Plan for Strong Motion Programs to Mitigate Earthquake Losses in Urbanized Areas”

(Stepp, 1998) review the then-current state of structural response monitoring and conclude that 

approximately 10,000 additional instruments should be deployed in structures to assist in a 

significant earthquake loss reduction effort. USGS Circular 1188 includes a 3000-instrument

subset of these recommended structural response instruments in the plan for ANSS. To date three

buildings have been instrumented by USGS under the ANSS program. Figure 1 presents a 

schematic of one of these, the Atwood Building in Anchorage, Alaska. This building has been

instrumented to measure structural response; a vertical ground motion array in close proximity to 

4 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 5 

the building provides site response data, allowing analysis of seismic response of the entire soilstructure system. 

Measurement of the response of buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure to earthquake ground 

shaking has, for decades, been an important component of earthquake engineering study and 

research in many parts of the world. Design codes and earthquake-resistant design methods are 

based in part upon such quantitative measurements. Greater and more immediate impact on 

codes, design practice and methods of construction would have been realized if a larger number 

of sensors had been available for deployment in a greater number of engineered civil systems. 

The ANSS response monitoring program provides a unique and high-value opportunity to 

achieve such an impact and to improve the resilience of our Nation’s engineered civil systems 

against catastrophic loss from earthquake shaking through careful deployment of dense arrays of 

instruments in engineered civil systems. 

1.4 MISSION FOR ANSS RESPONSE MONITORING OF ENGINEERED CIVIL 

SYSTEMS 

From U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1188 (USGS, 1998) the mission of ANSS is as follows: 

The mission of the Advanced National Seismic System is to provide accurate and timely 

data and information on seismic events and their effects on buildings and structures, 

employing modern monitoring methods and technologies. 

Response monitoring within ANSS will directly address the “effects on buildings and structures” 

portion of the ANSS mission and facilitate, in the longer term, the near real-time collection of 

response and damage data to aid in post-earthquake emergency response and recovery. 

Importantly, ANSS response monitoring will provide data critical to improvement of seismicresistant design and assessment of engineered civil systems and will support the on-going 

development of tools and guidelines for performance-based seismic design: important work 

being funded at the time of this writing by two other NEHRP agencies: the National Science 

Foundation (NSF) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Further, data 

collected from ANSS instruments on the response of full-scale engineered civil systems will 

complement those collected from tests of models of components and elements of such systems 

conducted by previous research studies and under the NSF NEESR (NEES Research) program. 

ANSS has the full support of the broad earthquake engineering community (EERI, 2003) and is 

considered key to a successful and robust national earthquake engineering research program in 

the next two decades. 

Predictive modeling is at the core of modern earthquake engineering. It is central to everything 

earthquake engineers do, from post-earthquake investigations to assessment and design of new 

and retrofit construction. It is also the cornerstone of performance-based design, which is the 

new paradigm for earthquake engineering research and practice. System response data are 

needed to improve, calibrate, and validate predictive modeling and therefore to improve the 

earthquake-resistant design of engineered civil systems. 
M. Çelebi 

Figure 1: ANSS Structural Response Monitoring Plan for the Atwood Building in Anchorage 

6 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 7 

To serve these purposes, the mission for ANSS Response Monitoring is: 

The mission of response monitoring within ANSS is to provide data and information 

products that will (1) contribute to earthquake safety through improved understanding 

and predictive modeling of the earthquake response of engineered civil systems and (2) 

aid in post-earthquake response and recovery. 

1.5 GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT 

The charge to the ANSS Structural Instrumentation Guideline Committee was to prepare an 

ANSS guideline for the USGS that will (a) identify and prioritize the needs of the structural and 

geotechnical engineering community that can be addressed by earthquake-related data collected 

from ANSS-monitored engineered civil systems, (b) provide procedures to identify and prioritize 

candidate engineered systems for ANSS monitoring projects, and (c) provide recommendations 

on procedures and practices for instrument installation and operation, data access and 

distribution, and data utilization. 

The Committee was organized in April and May, 2004, at the direction of the National Steering 

Committee and the ANSS Coordinator within USGS. Appendix A contains the names of the 

Committee members. Andrew Whittaker of the University at Buffalo chaired the Committee. 

Robert Nigbor served as a member of the Committee and helped draft and edit this document 

under contract to USGS. The committee was composed of eleven practicing and academic 

structural and geotechnical engineers. 

The Committee met in person on June 7, 2004, in Menlo Park, and via teleconference on July 8, 

2004, and October 11, 2004. 

A final draft of the document was delivered to the ANSS National Steering Committee on 

October 31, 2004. This draft was circulated for review and comment within the ANSS and 

earthquake engineering communities. After review and revision, Version 1.0 was finalized and 

disseminated on March 15, 2005. 

As ANSS evolves, along with the users it serves, so too should this document. The Structural 

Instrumentation Guideline Committee recommends the formal review and revision of this 

guideline every three years to ensure that improvements in instrumentation and information 

technology and changes in the needs of the design professional community are incorporated into 

the document. 

1.6 GUIDELINE ORGANIZATION 

Chapter 2 presents the Committee’s consensus regarding engineering needs for buildings, 

geosystems, and infrastructure. Chapter 2 then discusses national priorities and recommendations 

for management of these priorities by ANSS. Chapter 3 covers technical requirements, including 

monitoring approach, system issues, hardware issues, and information technology issues. 

Chapter 4 presents consensus requirements for data and metadata. Chapter 5 includes a 
recommended selection process for engineered civil systems to be monitored and administered 

by ANSS. 

Appendix A lists the authors of this document and their affiliations. A list of cited references is

presented in Appendix B. The ANSS interim data policy is reproduced in Appendix C. 

Appendices D, E, and F contain selection criteria for buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure, 

respectively. Appendix G provides technical specifications for ANSS response monitoring 

instrumentation. 

8 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 9 

2 PRIORITIES FOR MONITORING CIVIL SYSTEMS 

The two goals for ANSS response monitoring are stated in Section 1.4, namely, 1) provide 

response data to improve understanding and predictive modeling of engineered civil systems, 

and 2) provide data to aid in post-earthquake damage assessment and recovery. At this time, the 

primary focus for ANSS response monitoring should be to provide data for improved 

understanding and development of predictive modeling tools. Once the improved understanding 

and predictive tools are available, they can be applied to damage assessment and other 

immediate post-earthquake activities. 

With this overall prioritization in mind, this chapter describes needs, recommendations for 

national priorities, opportunities for regional participation and collaboration with other 

organizations, and recommendations for management of priorities within ANSS. 

2.1 NATIONAL RESPONSE MONITORING NEEDS 

Within the context of this Guideline, the broad category of “Engineered Civil Systems” includes 

all constructed structures and systems at risk from earthquake shaking. Buildings, dams, and 

bridges are obvious major components of this category. Nonstructural systems, tanks, landfills, 

and pipelines are equally important components for earthquake loss reduction. It is intended that 

this Guideline, and the ANSS Structural Response Monitoring program, consider all engineered 

civil systems that contribute to societal seismic risk. 

Within this context, the key need for all engineered civil systems is the collection of both input 

and response data that will improve our ability to predict response, damage, and loss. Data 

collected from sparse arrays of instruments are unlikely to lead to fundamental advances in 

predictive modeling and damage assessment. As such, the use of dense arrays of instruments, 

deployed to provide maximum benefit to predictive modelers and damage assessors, is needed. 

Such data and information, if carefully analyzed and studied, will lead to improved design 

practice and building codes, facilitate the development of robust tools for performance-based 

seismic design, and lead to reduced losses in future earthquakes. 

ANSS should consider all types of engineered civil systems as potential candidates for 

monitoring. However, given the limited annual budget for monitoring engineered civil systems, 

instruments should be deployed to best meet national engineering needs in civil systems that are 

located in sites most likely to be subjected to moderate-to-severe earthquake shaking1

. The 

Committee deliberated this optimization issue and developed a list of needs and an associated 

scoring system for each of the following three subcategories of engineered civil systems: 1) 

Buildings; 2) Geosystems; and 3) Infrastructure Systems. The needs, scoring categories, and 

weightings are based upon the Committee’s collective earthquake-engineering experience and 

 

1

 ANSS should invest in response monitoring infrastructure in locations with the highest probability of collecting 

data: Recommendation #9 of the 2001 COSMOS workshop (Stepp and Nigbor eds. 2001). 
were developed by the Committee for the selection process detailed in Chapter 5 of this

Guideline. The ANSS National Steering Committee considers buildings to be the most important

engineered civil system and the primary, but not sole, recipient of instrumentation in the ANSS 

program at the time of this writing when funding for instrumentation is limited. The consensus of

the 2001 COSMOS workshop (Stepp and Nigbor, eds., 2001) supports this emphasis as follows: 

As an initial tradeoff, it is recommended that instrumentation of buildings should 

be given high priority. Other structures, such as bridges, other lifeline structures,

dams and other critical facility structures, typically have independent 

requirements for strong-motion measurements. 

The writers of this Guideline concur with the National Steering Committee and the consensus 

findings of the COSMOS workshop, but also believe that the other classes of engineered systems

also warrant response monitoring under the ANSS program. Needs for buildings, geosystems, 

and infrastructure systems are detailed in the following three sections. Appendices D, E, and F 

contain the draft scoring systems for each category. The Committee expects the lists to be 

revised on a regular (three-year) basis following consultation with the end-users of the ANSS 

data, namely, the academic and design professional communities and emergency planners and

responders. 

An important overall need for all types of engineered civil systems is the need to correlate 

earthquake damage with measured ground shaking and response data. This need suggests that an 

important criterion for an ANSS-instrumented structure is the ability to document and 

disseminate detailed information on damage, or lack of damage, following earthquake shaking. 

2.1.1 Engineering Needs for Building Instrumentation 

Buildings are the largest single category of engineered civil systems, and have a very large 

contribution to seismic risk. As defined herein, the term “buildings” encompasses all structures

intended to enclose people and/or their activities. Structures in this category range from singlefamily houses to apartments to office buildings to industrial buildings. Within this broad range 

there is an enormous number of building types and construction; a fact that makes the 

specification of needs and priorities difficult. 

Çelebi (2004), the ANSS Technical Guidelines (USGS, 2002), and the COSMOS workshop 

proceedings (Stepp and Nigbor, eds., 2001) all provide information on priority needs for building 

instrumentation. The Committee reviewed these documents and discussed prioritization of needs 

for buildings, considering the current state-of-practice in earthquake engineering and the needs

of the earthquake-engineering research community. Based upon these deliberations, response 

data should be collected, processed, and curated to address high-priority needs that include: 

• Performance of buildings undergoing inelastic response and damage to the point of incipient 

collapse to support the development of tools and methods for performance-based seismic 

design 

• Global response of buildings subjected to near source shaking 

10 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
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• Higher-mode response of mid-rise and high-rise buildings 

• Modification of free-field earthquake shaking by building foundations 

• Soil-structure interaction effects on building response including the rocking response of shear 

wall and braced frame buildings 

• Behavior of nonductile concrete frame buildings 

• Behavior of tuck-under apartment buildings 

• Behavior of unreinforced masonry (URM) components and buildings 

• Behavior of tilt-up buildings with flexible diaphragms 

• Response of buildings incorporating advanced technologies such as isolation and damping 

systems 

• Performance of retrofitted buildings. 

Additional information on high-priority needs is incorporated in the scorecard specific to 

buildings presented in Appendix D. 

2.1.2 Engineering Needs for Geosystem Instrumentation 

Geosystems are facilities comprised in whole or in part of soil or rock materials. Examples 

include earth and rockfill dams, solid waste landfills, dikes, levees, tunnels, and retaining walls. 

Foundations are covered under building and bridge structural systems, and are not considered a 

geosystem. The subject of ground response in the absence of a structure/geosystem is covered 

under the ground motion instrumentation program of ANSS, and is not covered here. 

Based upon Committee deliberations, response data should be collected, processed, and curated 

to address the following high-priority needs of the geotechnical engineering community: 

• Wave propagation and site response within geosystems undergoing inelastic behavior 

• Ground motions in geosystems experiencing significant softening or liquefaction 

• Response of geosystems to near-source effects, especially directivity pulses 

• Response of geosystems to incoherent ground motion inputs, such as might arise from 

variable ground conditions underlying a large-size facility. 

Additional information on high-priority needs is incorporated in the scorecard specific to 

geosystems presented in Appendix E. 

2.1.3 Engineering Needs for Infrastructure System Instrumentation 

Recent earthquakes in Japan (1995), Taiwan (1999), and Turkey (1999) have resulted in huge 

economic losses due to failures of infrastructure, including bridges, port and harbor structures 

and petrochemical structures. The following needs are among those with a high priority in 
advancing the understanding of how to best improve the resilience of and reduce losses to 

infrastructure during strong ground shaking. 

• Performance of bridges and infrastructure undergoing inelastic response and damage to the 

point of incipient collapse to support the development of tools and methods for performancebased seismic design 

• Global response of bridges subjected to near source shaking

• Global response of distributed systems subjected to differential support excitation 

• Soil-structure interaction effects on bridge and infrastructure response including rocking 

response and liquefaction 

• Response of bridges and infrastructure incorporating advanced technologies such as isolation 

and damping systems 

• Performance of retrofitted bridges. 

Additional information on high-priority needs is incorporated in the scorecard specific to 

infrastructure and is presented in Appendix F. 

2.2 COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES 

ANSS management should adopt national priorities for response monitoring of engineered civil

systems and make annual resource allocation decisions based upon these priorities. However, 

ANSS should also consider opportunities for collaboration with other government programs or 

private industry that would provide substantial leverage for an ANSS investment. 

The USGS National Strong Motion Program (NSMP) already benefits from collaborations with 

other government agencies and programs. Çelebi (2004) notes that 17 of 51 extensive building 

instrumentation arrays operated by USGS are collaborative efforts with other agencies, including 

the Department of Veterans Affairs, General Services Administration, Los Angeles County, and 

NASA. 

There is currently a strong opportunity for collaboration with NSF’s Network for Earthquake

Engineering Simulation (NEES). There is a continuing opportunity for collaboration with the 

three NSF-funded earthquake engineering research centers. Other opportunities may exist for 

collaboration between ANSS and government-funded earthquake engineering research projects

or programs. There may also be international opportunities for collaboration in earthquake

engineering research, and perhaps opportunities for collaboration in other areas such as structural 

health monitoring or homeland security. 

Both the USGS NSMP and ANSS have already benefited from collaborations with private 

building owners. A key recommendation of the 2001 COSMOS workshop (Stepp and Nigbor, 

eds., 2001) regarding private partnership is stated as follows: 

Demonstration projects, with co-funding or cooperative research and 

development agreement (CRADA) relationships, are seen as a way of expanding

12 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
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private sector participation and getting new organizations involved in building 

instrumentation projects. To bridge the education gap between owners and 

strong-motion data providers, guidelines focused on the practical application of 

strong-motion data should be prepared that specifically target building owners. 

The ANSS should consider providing technical support for private owner 

participation in building monitoring by serving as recorder and distributor of any 

data collected. The building owner’s needs for the data may be as limited as 

providing data obtained from free-field station that can be incorporated into 

ShakeMap2

. If instrumentation of a building meets the national and regional 

priorities of ANSS and the owner agrees to the use of the data for the public good, 

then the project would clearly contribute to ANSS goals. There is a range of 

possible building owner relationships with the ANSS that would have to be 

developed on a case-by-case basis. Building owner/operators engaged on any 

level in getting and applying earthquake data become advocates for the overall 

ANSS program. 

ANSS should seek and encourage all of the above collaboration possibilities, as long as they fit 

within the mission of ANSS response monitoring and within the ANSS priorities. Openly 

available data, metadata, and post-earthquake damage survey data should be required for all 

collaborative projects. All such opportunities can enhance the ANSS program and can provide 

significant leverage to the limited funds available to ANSS. 

2.3 SETTING NATIONAL PRIORITIES 

ANSS management will decide annually how to allocate the available financial resources for 

response monitoring of engineered civil systems. Chapter 5 provides a framework for this 

decision-making process in which candidate systems are ranked according to national priorities. 

Final recommendations regarding funding will be made by the System Response Monitoring 

Committee (SRMC). 

Within the limited resources available at the present time, buildings should be given highest 

priority, followed by geosystems and infrastructure systems. However, instrumentation of all 

three classes of engineered systems is considered essential to the ultimate success of ANSS. The 

scorecards of Appendices D, E, and F provide a framework for assessing the relative merits of 

candidate buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure, respectively. 

ANSS management should consider national needs to be primary and regional needs to be 

secondary when setting priorities and ranking annual candidate systems for ANSS response 

monitoring. Possibilities for collaboration with other agencies or companies, work that would 

significantly leverage the limited ANSS resources, should be considered carefully. 

 

2

 ShakeMap is a map of earthquake shaking intensity, and is a main product of ANSS ground motion monitoring. 

See www.anss.org for further details. 
2.4 DATA DISSEMINATION AND COLLECTION 

For ANSS response monitoring to meet the needs of the targeted end-users, data should be made

available in a complete and timely manner. Metadata (see Chapter 3) for each monitored system 

should be made available to the user community at large via an ANSS website dedicated to 

instrumented and monitored engineered civil systems. Uncorrected earthquake response data 

(time series) should be made available at the ANSS website in near real time following 

earthquake shaking at the site of the monitored system. Earthquake damage data for monitored 

systems, which is vital to the improvement of understanding and the development of predictive 

modeling tools, should be collected immediately following an earthquake and made available in 

a timely manner either at the ANSS website or via a link at the ANSS website. 

The ANSS mission does not include earthquake damage reconnaissance. Collection and rapid 

publication of earthquake damage data is vital to the success of the ANSS response monitoring 

program and ANSS management is strongly encouraged to formally coordinate future data 

collection and reporting with those organizations tasked with collecting earthquake damage data. 

14 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 15 

3 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS 

This chapter presents detailed technical requirements for ANSS response monitoring. These are 

largely based upon the 2001 COSMOS workshop (Stepp and Nigbor, eds., 2001) 

recommendations and the 2002 ANSS Technical Guidelines (USGS, 2002). The major topics of 

this chapter are Monitoring Approach, System Issues, Hardware, and Information Technology. 

3.1 MONITORING APPROACH 

It is the nature of engineered civil systems that every system is unique, unlike aerospace, 

automotive, or mechanical systems. Even buildings of the same basic type (e.g. low-rise 

masonry) are typically different. This greatly complicates any attempt to standardize ANSS 

response monitoring. 

Provided herein is a common monitoring approach that can be applied to all ANSS-instrumented 

systems. All ANSS-instrumented systems should have common goals and basic design concepts. 

The approach allows for Payload Projects with other goals or design concepts to accompany, but 

not replace, the basic ANSS response monitoring goal described in the next section. 

3.1.1 BASIC GOAL 

In keeping with the mission of ANSS response monitoring, the basic goal of any ANSS 

structural monitoring project is to provide data and information that will contribute to future 

earthquake safety of life and property through improved understanding and predictive modeling 

of the earthquake response of engineered civil systems. 

3.1.2 PURPOSE 

Chapter 5 of this Guideline presents a two-step proposal process to select candidate engineered 

civil systems for ANSS instrumentation and monitoring. The first (pre-proposal) step will 

involve the completion and submission of a standard form. Appendices D, E, and F provide the 

forms for buildings, geosystems, and infrastructure, respectively. The proposer must complete 

the relevant form and scorecard, identify the purpose (engineering rationale) for instrumenting 

the building, and present a list of objectives of the measurement system. 

3.1.3 BASIC DESIGN REQUIREMENTS 

Every engineered civil system is unique, and therefore every response monitoring system will be 

different. However, the following basic design concepts should be present in every ANSSmonitored engineered civil system: 

1. Measurement of both input and response. Every structure should have an appropriately 

justified number of reference ground motion sensors in addition to the in-structure sensors to 

measure the response of the engineered civil system. 
2. Measurement of base motion. Every system should have a sufficient number of sensors 

installed at its base or foundation. Where relevant to the proposed instrumentation system, 

sensors should be installed to measure soil-structure interaction effects. 

3. A sufficient number of sensors to meet the purpose of the proposed instrumentation system. 

4. Sufficient measurement resolution (both dynamic range and frequency response of sensor 

and data acquisition channels) to meet the system-specific measurement objectives.

5. Detailed metadata to enable speedy or real-time evaluation and interpretation of instrument 

data, consistent with the purpose of the proposed instrumentation scheme. 

6. Compatibility of data, metadata, and data transmission with ANSS standards. 

7. Immediate post-earthquake access to the engineered civil system for collection of perishable

earthquake damage data. 

Every proposal (see Section 5.3) for ANSS response monitoring support should clearly and 

directly address these seven basic design requirements. Some of these design requirements must

be addressed in the pre-proposal (see Section 5.3). 

3.1.4 PAYLOAD MONITORING PROJECTS 

The design of the instrumentation system for every candidate system should meet the basic goal 

of Section 3.1.1 above. Additional goals or capabilities are defined as “Payload Monitoring.” 

Payload monitoring is encouraged to broaden the scope and utility of ANSS response 

monitoring. 

Collaborative monitoring with other government agencies might have operational or research 

goals distinct from the ANSS goals. Examples include: 1) information from the monitoring of a 

dam or bridge might be used by a partner agency for agency-internal actions following 

earthquake shaking, and 2) an owner of a steel-framed building might seek specific response data 

to justify not inspecting welds after moderate earthquake shaking. Additional monitoring

capabilities should be considered as Payload Monitoring and should be in addition to but not in 

place of those needed to address the goal and purpose of the ANSS monitoring. 

3.2 SYSTEM DESIGN REQUIREMENTS 

3.2.1 FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS 

An ANSS response monitoring system should be designed, installed, and operated to provide

appropriate data for meeting both its Purpose (Section 3.1.2) and Basic Design Requirements 

(Section 3.1.3). General guidance for installation is provided below. 

• Measurement types: Acceleration, displacement, deformation, and strain should be the main

quantities measured. (The use of advanced or innovative sensors is encouraged to improve

the state of practice.) Recording should be digital. 

• Dynamic range: Dynamic range is defined herein as the combined clip level (sensor, signal 

conditioning, and digitizer) compared to the combined RMS noise level. Recommended 

16 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 17 

system dynamic range for each measurement channel is 19 bits (114dB). Minimum system 

resolution for every channel should be 16 bits (96dB). 

• Frequency response: Minimum frequency response of acceleration channels should be 0.02 – 

50 Hz. Frequency response of displacement or other measured quantities may be less than 

this, but should be justified if less. Minimum channel sample rate should be 200 samples per 

second. 

• Channel skew/phase delay: The digitizer skew or delay time between any two channels 

should be less than 1 millisecond. Any sensor or filter phase delays should be constant, 

correctable to less than 1 millisecond, and included in the metadata. 

• Triggering: For triggered recording systems, trigger thresholds should be appropriate for the 

minimum earthquake and response motions of interest. Pre-event times should be sufficient 

to capture the P-wave upon S-wave triggering; 30 seconds is a recommended minimum. 

Post-event times should be adequate to capture significant free response of the structure after 

ground shaking has stopped. Eighty seconds is a recommended minimum, but more time will 

be required for low frequency structures such as high-rise buildings or long-span bridges. 

• Real-time systems: Systems providing real-time data transmission should also have on-site 

triggered recording and data storage. 

3.2.2 PROCUREMENT PROCESS 

All hardware and software used in a monitoring project should be formally approved by the 

ANSS System Response Monitoring Coordinator prior to procurement. 

If new hardware or software is proposed as part of the ANSS System, detailed information 

should be provided as part of the proposal, and detailed evaluation and acceptance testing should 

be provided as a condition of procurement. 

3.2.3 PACKAGING AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

Component and instrumentation system packaging should meet all applicable ANSS standards 

and should be appropriate for the expected environment in or on the structure. 

Instrumentation system design should consider the availability and reliability of power and 

communications infrastructure. Appropriate backup power and communication systems should 

be supplied as necessary to ensure data survivability. 

3.2.4 INSTALLATION 

Installation details will vary considerably for each structural monitoring project. Following are 

general requirements that should be followed for each project: 

• General: Instrumentation should be installed with normal standards of professional care. The 

need for long-term reliability should be foremost in the installation work plan and details. 
• Reference location accuracy: A reference location on the structure or nearby ground should 

have documented accuracy of one ten-thousandth of a degree in latitude and longitude. 

• Sensor location accuracy: Within the structure, sensor location accuracy should be 10 mm or

better in all three axes relative to a designated reference sensor. 

• Sensor orientation: Sensors within a structure should be oriented in a logical manner in line 

with the structure’s primary axes. Sensors should be mounted within 0.5 degrees of the 

desired orientation within the structure. Sensor orientation is critical to data interpretation

and should be well documented and controlled. 

• Anchoring and hardening: All sensors, recorder and auxiliary components should be 

anchored securely to the structure to prevent relative motion and hardened to prevent damage

in the event of failure of the engineered civil system. 

• Maintenance program: A post-installation maintenance program is essential to the success of

a structural monitoring project. The maintenance program should be documented as part of 

the proposal for ANSS monitoring. Special tools or materials required for maintenance 

should be provided to ANSS operations at the time of instrumentation system installation. 

ANSS management will be responsible for assuring that the maintenance program is carried

out. 

3.2.5 DOCUMENTATION AND METADATA 

An installation should be extensively and formally documented, with narrative and digital 

photographic descriptions of each component of the instrumentation system. 

Detailed metadata should be compiled as part of the ANSS monitoring system. USGS and ANSS 

funds should be used to develop the metadata. Metadata should include sufficient site condition 

data for evaluation of local site effects and soil-structure interaction, detailed mathematical 

models of the engineered civil system being monitored, results of the analyses performed to

support the type and location of all transducers in the monitoring system, construction documents

(including structural and architectural drawings) for the building, sample results from the 

analysis of the mathematical model of the civil system, and post-earthquake damage data and 

information3

). Section 4.2 lists additional metadata requirements. 

3.3 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

3.3.1 SENSORS 

Appendix G.1 provides current specifications for strong-motion accelerometers suitable for 

deployment in engineered civil systems. 

 

3

 No guidance is provided for collection and publication of earthquake damage data because such work falls outside 

the scope of ANSS. 

18 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 19 

Appendix G.2 provides current specifications for cable extension relative displacement sensors 

suitable for long-term deployment in engineered civil systems. 

Appendix G.3 provides current specifications for weldable metal foil strain gauge systems 

suitable for long-term deployment in engineered civil systems. 

Technical requirements for other sensor types are not provided herein; specifications for other 

sensors should be included as part of a proposal for an ANSS monitoring system. Such 

specifications should meet the Basic Design Requirements (Section 3.1.3) and Functional 

Specifications (Section 3.2.1). 

3.3.2 DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS 

Appendix G.4 presents technical requirements for data acquisition systems that will form part of 

an ANSS response monitoring system. These requirements make substantial use of the 

specifications set forth in the ANSS Technical Guidelines (USGS, 2002). 

3.3.3 DATA TRANSMISSION 

Data transmission within the monitoring system hardware and software should be compatible 

with existing ANSS systems. See Section 3.4. 

3.3.4 NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

If possible and where appropriate, an ANSS response monitoring system should use hardware 

and software currently in use within the ANSS environment to ensure compatibility. However, 

the use of new technologies and instruments is strongly encouraged when it broadens, improves, 

or lowers the cost of current instruments or systems. 

The development and deployment of instrumentation systems capable of real-time, continuous 

monitoring of response of engineered civil systems is considered a high priority. Collaboration 

with other organizations focused on real-time health monitoring of engineered systems for nonearthquake-induced movement or damage would represent an appropriate leverage of ANSS 

resources for this purpose. 

3.4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS 

3.4.1 DATA FORMATS 

The instrumentation used in a specific ANSS response monitoring project should output digital 

data that meets, at a minimum, the data specifications set forth in the most current ANSS 

Technical Guidelines (USGS, 2002). 

Data should also be capable of translation to the latest COSMOS data format to facilitate further 

use by the earthquake engineering community. 
3.4.2 METADATA FORMATS 

A specific ANSS response monitoring project should be capable of providing metadata that

meets, at a minimum, the metadata specifications set forth in the most current ANSS Technical 

Guidelines (USGS, 2002). All metadata (see Section 4.2) should be available online at all times 

for automatic download by the user community. 

3.4.3 DATA COMMUNICATION 

A specific ANSS response monitoring project should be capable of data communications with 

the designated ANSS Engineering Data Center. If a proposed ANSS response monitoring project 

has real-time data transmission capability, it should be compatible with existing ANSS real-time 

data systems in use in the ANSS region where the engineered system is located. The system 

should also have parallel triggered local recording capability. 

If the project does not include real-time capabilities, then it should be compatible with existing 

offline automated data retrieval systems in use within ANSS. Data retrieved offline should be 

automatically available to users. 

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Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 21 

4 DATA AND METADATA 

4.1 OPEN DATA POLICY AND DATA REQUIREMENTS 

The basic intent of ANSS, including its response monitoring program, is to openly provide data, 

metadata, and information from monitoring projects of engineered civil systems in a timely 

manner. Data will be managed and distributed through an ANSS Engineering Data Center. 

Appendix C contains the ANSS Interim Data Policy, which states that: 

All data collected, and data products generated by the ANSS and its constituent 

networks shall be freely and easily available to the user community for 

earthquake monitoring and notification, emergency response, scientific research, 

volcano monitoring and notification, general education, and all other appropriate 

purposes. 

Currently, all existing USGS cooperative agreements for seismic monitoring include a statement 

requiring that data be made available to USGS as soon as it is accessible. This requirement needs 

to apply to all ANSS structural monitoring data as well. Therefore, any collaborative or payload 

projects should follow this open data policy as well. 

The Committee strongly agrees with the ANSS Interim Data Policy. That policy should be 

expanded for response monitoring projects to include all site and engineered system data and 

metadata. These data should be made available online at all times for use by the user community. 

Raw (unedited) response data should be made available to the user community immediately 

following an earthquake event that triggers the ANSS monitoring system at that site. 

The following data should be openly disseminated in a coordinated package by ANSS in a timely 

manner, via a dedicated ANSS website for monitored engineered systems, following triggering 

of an ANSS monitoring system: 

• Raw, unedited digital waveform data from all channels including reference and base motion 

channels; 

• Zero-corrected and scaled waveform data from all error-free sensor channels; and 

• Processed strong-motion data, both input and response, from all error-free sensor channels. 

COSMOS-standard processing or equivalent should be used. 

Earthquake damage data from monitored engineered systems should be made available online at 

the dedicated ANSS response monitoring website or via a hyperlink to the website of the datacollection organization. 

4.2 METADATA REQUIREMENTS 

Listed below is the minimum metadata for an ANSS monitored engineered civil system that 

should be available online at the dedicated ANSS response monitoring website. 
Basic Station Data and Auxiliary Station Data:

• Station identification (name, ID number, etc.) 

• Station location (coordinates, location description within site; detailed information may need

to be protected in the property owner's interests) 

• Station access information (contacts, keys, etc.; may be protected information)

• Station construction (type, description) 

• Site geology 

• NEHRP mapped values, Ss and S1

• ASCE-7 site class 

• Vs30 (average shear wave velocity in the upper 30m) if available 

• Station instrumentation details 

• Station calibration data 

• Station history (installation date, modification descriptions/dates, etc.) 

• Ambient noise spectra (national and regional broadband sites only) 

• Photographs of the station construction 

• Photographs of the station instrumentation installation 

• Photographs of the station vicinity (showing nearby buildings, topography, or other features) 

• Site map 

• Plots/numeric data for site characterization information 

• Other descriptive information about the site 

Sensors

• Sensor type 

• Sensor manufacturer, model, serial number 

• Output units 

• Sensitivity 

• Frequency response parameters or curve 

• Location in the system

• Orientation in the system 

• Photograph of installed sensor 

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Engineered Civil System

• Structure/system type 

• Year of construction 

• Design codes 

• Occupancy/use description 

• Sketch of building and sensor layout (similar to Figure 1) 

• Detailed design and as-built drawings (CAD if available) 

• Material properties (specified and measured) 

• Detailed mathematical models of the engineered civil system being monitored 

• Results of the analyses performed to support the type and location of all transducers in the 

monitoring system 

• Construction documents, 

• Sample results from the analysis of the mathematical model of the civil system 
5 ANSS INSTRUMENTATION SELECTION PROCESS 

5.1 INTRODUCTION 

A formal, national-level process is needed to rank and select individual engineered civil systems

for ANSS response monitoring. This chapter presents a selection process that will address 

national priorities using the resources of the ANSS Regional Advisory Committees. 

5.2 ORGANIZATION 

The Structural Instrumentation Guideline Committee, which drafted this Guideline, was 

dissolved upon the delivery of the Guideline to the ANSS National Steering Committee (NSC). 

Because of the distinct and important end-user function of the ANSS Response Monitoring

Program, a new System Response Monitoring Committee (SRMC) should be formed

immediately to provide the oversight and guidance needed to implement this Guideline.

The SRMC should have the following charges: 

1. Support the ANSS NSC in the formation of the ANSS System Response Monitoring 

Program; 

2. Advise the ANSS Coordinator on the implementation of this Guideline;

3. Review and rank candidate civil engineered systems on an annual basis for the ANSS 

NSC; and 

4. Review the priorities and ranking criteria contained in this Guideline on an annual basis 

for the ANSS NSC. 

The SRMC should consist of a maximum of fifteen (15) members. The membership of SRMC 

should reflect the targeted end-users of ANSS response monitoring data, namely, a mix of 

practicing and academic structural, geotechnical, and instrumentation engineers, and emergency

managers. The makeup of the SRMC should be overseen by the ANSS National Steering 

Committee. 

The SRMC should be funded by ANSS and should coordinate its activities with the ANSS 

System Response Monitoring Coordinator. 

5.3 SELECTION PROCESS FOR ENGINEERED CIVIL SYSTEMS

A formal, annual solicitation and two-step proposal and review process is recommended to form 

a robust pool of candidate engineered civil systems for ANSS response monitoring. 

The USGS solicitation for ANSS response monitoring should seek pre-proposals from the ANSS 

Regional Advisory Committees and also from individuals, organizations, and companies not part 

of the Regional Advisory Committees. Such individuals, organizations, and companies are, 

however, encouraged to respond to the solicitation through their Regional Advisory Committee4

. 

 

4

 If an organization or company is not associated with a specific ANSS region, contact should be made with the 

ANSS System Response Monitoring Coordinator to aid in the development of a pre-proposal.

24 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 25 

The scope of the pre-proposal is presented in Section 3.1.2. Additional criteria may be added by 

the SRMC. The SRMC will review and rank all nominations and select nominations for 

development into detailed proposals. Pre-proposals will be ranked on the basis of the statement 

of purpose, the objectives of the measurement system, and the scorecard. 

The authors of the selected pre-proposals should then be asked to develop detailed proposals 

within four months of the solicitation-response date for submittal to the SRMC. ANSS should 

consider providing financial and staff support at this stage to assist in the proposal developments. 

The detailed proposal should include, as a minimum, the following information: 

1. Location of the engineered system, including latitude and longitude, 

2. Site geology, 

3. NEHRP mapped values, Ss and S1, 

4. Site class per ASCE-7, 

5. Monitoring history (i.e., are instruments already deployed at the station or in the 

engineered system), 

6. A photograph of the engineered system, 

7. Site map, 

8. Description of the engineered system, 

9. Year of construction, 

10. Design codes used for construction, 

11. Occupancy/use description, 

12. Sketch of engineered system and proposed distribution of sensors, 

13. Detailed rationale for instrumenting the system, 

14. Point score per Appendix D, E, or F, 

15. A letter from the system owner noting support for the deployment of instruments in 

the system, development and publication of all metadata, etc., 

16. Sufficient information to justify the type and location of sensors in the monitoring 

system, 

17. A detailed plan to develop and archive metadata using the ANSS infrastructure, and 

18. A budget for the proposed monitoring system (to include the cost of developing all 

the proposed metadata). 

If requested, ANSS technical staff can assist the proposer to develop instrumentation schemes 

and budgets for the proposed monitoring system. Detailed proposals will be submitted to the 

SRMC for formal review and ranking. Rankings will be submitted to the ANSS National 

Steering Committee for approval and funding up to the level appropriated for that fiscal year. 
The selection process presented above has three goals, namely, 1) to limit the effort required to 

assemble detailed proposals that have a reasonable probability of funding, 2) to eliminate at the 

pre-proposal stage those proposals with little to no chance of funding, saving those proposers the 

time and expense involved in drafting a competitive full proposal, and 3) to ensure high-caliber 

detailed proposals worthy of ANSS funding. 

26 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 
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APPENDIX A: ANSS Structural Instrumentation Committee 

Dr. Andrew S. Whittaker, S.E. (Chair) 

Department of Civil Engineering 

University at Buffalo 

230 Ketter Hall 

Buffalo, NY 14260 

Ph: 716-645-2114, ext. 2418 

Email: awhittak@acsu.buffalo.edu 

Dr. John L. Aho, P.E. 

Principal Engineer/Vice President 

CH2M Hill 

301 W. Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 601 

Anchorage, AK 99503-2662 

Ph: 907-278-2551 

Email: jaho@ch2m.com 

Dr. C. B. Crouse, P.E. 

Principal Engineer/Vice President 

URS Corporation 

1501 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1400 

Seattle, WA 98101-1616 

Ph: 206-438-2700 

Email: cb_crouse@urscorp.com 

Dr. Robert Frosch 

School of Civil Engineering 

Purdue University 

550 Stadium Mall Drive 

West Lafayette, IN 47907-2051 

Ph: 765-494-5904 

Email: frosch@purdue.edu 

Mr. Dominic J. Kelly, S.E. 

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. 

41 Seyon Street, Bldg. 1, Suite 500 

Waltham, MA 02453 

Ph: 781-907-9000 

Email: djkelly@sgh.com 

Mr. Bret Lizundia, S.E. 

Principal 

Rutherford & Chekene 

427 Thirteenth Street 

Oakland, CA 94612 

Ph: 510-740-3200 

Email: blizundia@ruthchek.com 

Dr. Laura N. Lowes 

Department of Civil & Environmental Eng. 

233C More Hall, Box 352700 

University of Washington 

Seattle, WA 98195-2700 

Ph: 206-685-2563 

Email: lowes@u.washington.edu 

Dr. Eduardo Miranda 

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Eng. 

Terman Room 293 

Stanford University 

Stanford, CA 94305-3707 

Ph: 650-723-4164 

Email: emiranda@stanford.edu 

Dr. Robert L. Nigbor, P.E. 

Department of Civil Engineering 

University of Southern California KAP210 

Los Angeles, CA 90089-2531 

Ph: 213-740-9165 

Email: nigbor@usc.edu 

Dr. David H. Sanders 

Department of Civil Engineering 

University of Nevada Reno, MS 258 

Reno, NV 89557-0152 

Ph: 775-784-4288 

Email: sanders@unr.edu 

Dr. Jonathan Stewart, P.E. 

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Eng. 

University of California Los Angeles 

5731-H Boelter Hall 

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1593 

Ph: 310-206-2990 

Email: jstewart@seas.ucla.edu 
28 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

APPENDIX B: References 

Çelebi, M., (2004), “Structural Monitoring Arrays – Past, Present, and Future”, PROC. NATO Workshop 

on Future Directions on Strong Motion and Engineering Seismology, Kuşadasi, Izmir, Turkey, May 17-

21, 2004. 

COSMOS (2001). Guidelines for Installation of Advanced National Seismic System Strong-Motion 

Reference Stations, COSMOS Publication No. CP-2001/02, Richmond, Calif., http://www.cosmoseq.org/Guideline_PDF.pdf. 

CSMIP (1985), Recommended Building Strong Motion Instrumentation Criteria for the California Strong 

Motion Instrumentation Program, prepared by the Building Instrumentation Subcommittee of the 

California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program for the California Seismic Safety Commission. 

EERI (2003). Securing Society Against Catastrophic Earthquake Losses: a Research and Outreach Plan 

in Earthquake Engineering, EERI Publication; http://www.eeri.org. 

Huang, M., and A. Shakal (2001), “CSMIP Measurement Objectives and Models”, in Proceedings of the 

Invited Workshop on Strong-Motion Instrumentation of Buildings, 14-15 November, 2001, Emeryville, 

CA, COSMOS Publication CP-2001/04. 

Stepp, J. C., and R. Nigbor, ed. (2001). Proceedings of the Invited Workshop on Strong-Motion 

Instrumentation of Buildings, 14-15 November, 2001, COSMOS Publication CP-2001/04 

Stepp, J. C., ed. (1998). Vision 2005: An Action Plan for Strong Motion Programs to Mitigate Earthquake 

Losses in Urbanized Areas, Monterey, California, May, 1998, COSMOS Publication, 

http://www.cosmos-eq.org. 

USGS (2002), Technical Guidelines for the Implementation of the Advanced National Seismic System – 

Version 1.0, prepared by the ANSS Technical Integration Committee, USGS Open-File Report 02-92, 

http://www.anss.org. 

USGS(1998). An Assessment of Seismic Monitoring in the United States: Requirements for an Advanced 

National Seismic System, USGS Circular 1188. 
APPENDIX C: ANSS Interim Data Policy

Advanced National Seismic System Interim Data Policy 

Adopted by ANSS National Implementation Committee, Dec. 2003 

Elements of Data Policy

This documents sets down the principal points of a Data Policy for the Advanced National 

Seismic System (ANSS). 

All data collected, and data products generated by the ANSS and its constituent networks

shall be freely and easily available to the user community for earthquake monitoring and 

notification, emergency response, scientific research, volcano monitoring and notification, 

general education, and all other appropriate purposes. 

All data collected by the ANSS shall have sufficient metadata giving the location, 

instrumentation type and response, and other information on the conditions of data recording 

needed for the application of the data. These metadata shall be associated with the recorded

(or raw) data in a manner that will ensure that the recorded data and metadata can be easily

matched. 

To the extent possible and practical, recorded data and associated metadata should be 

deposited at and distributed through existing data management centers and facilities. Data so 

deposited and distributed must be clearly attributed to the ANSS. 

All ANSS data products and derivative information created by the ANSS should be deposited 

at and distributed through an ANSS Data Product Management Center. 

The ANSS Technical Integration Committee shall develop specifications for ANSS data, 

metadata, and data products, for approval by the ANSS National Implementation and 

Steering Committees. 

All ANSS-funded participants, including cooperative network operators, must follow these 

elements and the developed and approved specifications. 

Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 29 
30 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

 APPENDIX D: Selection Criteria for Buildings 

Submission Form for Candidate Buildings 

Fill in the information as completely as possible. Where the information is unknown, indicate 

“unknown”. 

General Information

Proposer: 

Name: 

Address:

Email:

Building location:

Address:

City:

State:

Latitude/Longitude:

Building information:

Stories above grade:

Stories below grade:

Square footage:

Date constructed:

Building code used:

ASCE 31-02 structure type(s):

Foundation type:

Seismically rehabilitated: Yes/No.

Year of rehabilitation:

Criteria for rehabilitation:

Already instrumented: Yes/No.

Photograph attached: Yes/No.

Original structural drawings are available5: Yes/No

 

5

At a minimum, drawings depicting the original existing structural conditions of the buildings are required. These 

can be from the bid set or they can be drawings that have been created by field measurements. Do not submit the 

building as a candidate for ANSS instrumentation without this minimum level of documentation. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 31 

Seismicity (2003 NEHRP map values): Ss: 

S1: 

ASCE-7 Site Class (Soil type): A, B, C, D, E, F 

A geotechnical report is available: Yes/No:

Owner:

Name:

Address:

Public or private:

Access6:

The owner has been contacted and agreed to allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

 Yes/No.

The owner has been contacted and may allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

Yes/No.

Shared Funding: 

The owner or another entity will provide partial funding for 

instrumentation: 

Yes/No/Unknown.

WEIGHTED SCORING 

Seismicity (up to 30 points): 

Seismicity shall be defined by NEHRP map values, using the 

high, medium and low seismicity categories in ASCE 31-03. 

Use ASCE-7 Site Class D when the site class is not known. 

High (SDS ≥ 0.5g and SD1 ≥ 0.2g) (30)

Medium (Not High or Low) (5)

Low (SDS ≤ 0.167g and SD1 ≤ 0.067g) (1)

 

6

 If the owner has been contacted and will not agree to instrumentation, do not submit the building as a candidate for 

ANSS instrumentation. For buildings that are short-listed, a letter from the owner will be required agreeing to all 

ANSS instrumentation and usage of the data. 
32 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

Reference Instrument Availability (up to 20 points) 

Free-field station(s) already installed (20)

Free-field location(s) available (16)

SMRS-OG (see COSMOS(2001)) Urban reference station(s) 

already installed (10)

SMRS-OG Urban reference location(s) available (8)

No reference locations available (0)

Unknown (0)

Existing Instrumentation (up to 10 points): 

Over 10 sensors (10)

3-10 sensors (8)

1-3 sensors (6)

No sensors (0)

Unknown (0)

Current Metadata Availability (up to 13 points): 

Computer models (5):

Nonlinear 3-D computer model available (5)

Linear 3-D computer model available (3)

2-D computer model(s) available (2)

Record Drawings7 (3):

Architectural and structural record drawings (3)

Structural record drawings only (2)

Architectural record drawings only (1)

No record drawings available (0)

Previous instrumentation information (5):

Studies using instrumentation records (5)

 

7

 As noted previously, original bid drawings or their equivalent are required. Record drawings define the final “asbuilt” conditions and incorporate changes made to the bid documents during construction. To qualify for additional 

points here, the record drawings must also cover modifications made to the building since the original construction 

period. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 33 

Records only (3)

No previous records (0)

Unknown (0)

Building Simplicity (up to 10 points):

No 2003 IBC irregularities (10)

Either 2003 IBC plan (Table 1616.5.1.1) or vertical (Table 

1616.5.1.2) irregularities present but not both (5)

Both 2003 UBC plan and vertical irregularities present (0)

Unknown (0)

Building Types With Large Portfolios and High Life Safety 

Risk (up to 20 points) 

Unrehabilitated woodframe apartment over open parking on at 

least one side (tuck-under apartment) (20)

Rehabilitated tuckunder apartments with moment frame on 

open front (20)

Unrehabilitated URM bearing wall with flexible diaphragm (20)

URM bearing wall rehabilitated to the equivalent of the UCBC 

or more stringent (20)

URM bearing wall rehabilitated to the less stringent criteria than 

the UCBC (15)

Unrehabilitated tilt-up with flexible diaphragm (15)

Unrehabilitated nonductile concrete frame without URM infill 

(15)

Unrehabilitated nonductile concrete frame with URM infill (10)

Building Types With Large Portfolios and Uncertain Life 

Safety Risk (up to 15 points) 

Ordinary concentric steel braced frame (15)

Pre-Northridge moment frame (15)

Other Building Types with Large Portfolios (up to 10 

points)

Post-Northridge special moment-resisting frames (10)

Special concentrically-braced frame (10)

Midrise (3-6 stories) concrete shear wall (5)
34 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

Building Types With Small Portfolios but of Important 

Engineering Interest (up to 10 points) 

Buckling-restrained (unbonded) braced frame (10)

Seismically-isolated (10)

Passively-damped (10)

Concrete special moment-resisting frame (5)

Coupled shear wall (5)

Precast moment frames (5)

Issues (up to 20 points) 

Founded on piles (5)

Underground structure (5)

Very large structure with potential ground motion coherency 

issues (5)

Rocking response anticipated (5)

Total Score from Categories with Listed Point Values: 

Statement of Purpose (Engineering Rationale) for Instrumenting and Monitoring System:
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 35 

Objectives of the Measurement System: 

Other Issues: Other building types besides those identified above will be considered. List any 

other issues of interest for instrumenting and monitoring this building that the ANSS SRMC 

should consider as part of their review.
36 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

APPENDIX E: Selection Criteria for Geosystems 

Submission Form for Candidate Geosystems

Circle or fill in the information as completely as possible. Where the information is unknown, 

indicate “unknown”. 

General Information

Proposer: 

Name: 

Address:

Email:

Geosystem location:

Address:

City:

State:

Geosystem information:

Type of geosystem

Materials used in construction

Approximate footprint area and height

Date constructed:

Seismically rehabilitated: Yes/No.

Year of rehabilitation:

Criteria for rehabilitation:

Already instrumented: Yes/No.

Photograph attached: Yes/No.

Original geosystems drawings are available8: Yes/No

Seismicity (2003 NEHRP map values): Ss: 

S1: 

ASCE-7 Site Class (Soil type): A, B, C, D, E, F 

A geotechnical report is available: Yes/No:

 

8

At a minimum, drawings depicting the original existing construction conditions are required. These can be from the 

bid set or they can be drawings that have been created by field measurements. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 37 

Owner:

Name:

Address:

Public or private:

Access9:

The owner has been contacted and agreed to allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

 Yes/No.

The owner has been contacted and may allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

Yes/No.

Shared Funding: 

The owner or another entity will provide partial funding for 

instrumentation: 

Yes/No/Unknown.

WEIGHTED SCORING 

Seismicity (20 points): 

Seismicity shall be defined by NEHRP map values, using the 

high, medium and low seismicity categories in ASCE 31-03. 

Use ASCE-7 Site Class D when the site class is not known. 

High (SDS ≥ 0.5g and SD1 ≥ 0.2g) (20)

Medium (Not High or Low) (10)

Low (SDS ≤ 0.167g and SD1 ≤ 0.067g) (3)

Reference Instrument Availability (up to 20 points) 

Free-field station(s) or COSMOS SMRS-OG stations already 

installed or available (20)

 

9

 If the owner has been contacted and will not agree to instrumentation, do not submit the geosystem as a candidate 

for ANSS instrumentation. For geosystems that are short-listed, a letter from the owner will be required agreeing to 

all ANSS instrumentation and usage of the data. 
38 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

No reference locations available (0)

Unknown (0)

Existing Instrumentation and availability of Previous 

Records (10 points): 

Existing array with > 10 sensors and previous recordings (10)

Existing array with 3-10 sensors and previous recordings (8)

Existing array with 1-3 sensors and previous recordings (6)

Existing array but no previous recordings (3)

No sensors (0)

Unknown (0)

Metadata Availability (20 points): 

Drawings (10):

Plan and profile views of geosystem (10)

No information (0)

Material properties (10) 

Properties known well enough to allow detailed modeling of 

seismic performance (e.g., soil types, index properties, shear 

wave velocity, shear strength) (10)

Properties only known well enough to allow simplified modeling 

of seismic performance (e.g., soil types and index properties, 

but no shear wave velocity or strength data) (5)

Insufficient information to enable an engineering assessment of 

seismic performance (0)

Is the Geosystem Common? (10 points): 

No unusual 3D geometries or irregular ground conditions (10)

Ordinary soil types but highly 3D shape (5)

Non-representative geosystem (2)

Unknown (0)

Likelihood of Significant Response of Engineering Interest 

(30 points) 

Significant geosystem for which there is currently a lack of 

instrumented sites (e.g., tunnels, retaining walls). (30)
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 39 

Geosystem for which the existing state-of-knowledge provides 

relatively low confidence in the prediction of both the seismic 

response (i.e., ground motion variations across the geosystem) 

and performance (i.e., accrual of permanent displacements 

within the geosystem). Moreover, the regional seismicity may 

be expected to trigger site performance of engineering interest. 

(30)

Geosystem for which the existing state-of-knowledge provides 

relatively high confidence in the prediction of seismic response 

(e.g., systems with a nearly 1D geometry) but lower confidence 

in the prediction of performance. The regional seismicity may 

be expected to trigger site performance of engineering interest. 

(20)

Either of the above two cases, but regional seismicity is unlikely 

to produce site performance of engineering interest (i.e., 

expected motions are unlikely to induce permanent 

deformations). (10)

Total Score from Categories with Listed Point Values: 

Statement of Purpose (Engineering Rationale) for Instrumenting and Monitoring System:
40 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

Objectives of the Measurement System: 

Other Issues: Displacement and pore water pressure instrumentation should be considered in 

addition to accelerometers for many geosystems. 

List any other issues of interest in instrumenting this geosystem that the ANSS SRMC should 

consider as part of their review. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 41 

APPENDIX F: Selection Criteria for Infrastructure 

Submission Form for Candidate Infrastructure System (including bridges)

Fill in the information as completely as possible. Where the information is unknown, indicate 

“unknown”. 

General Information

Proposer: 

Name: 

Address:

Email:

Infrastructure system location:

Address or location description:

City (or nearest city/town):

State:

Latitude/Longitude:

Infrastructure system information:

Type of infrastructure system:

Structural type/description:

Structure use (such as ADT):

Materials used in construction:

Design code/year:

Approximate footprint area and height:

Date constructed:

Seismically rehabilitated: Yes/No.

Year of rehabilitation:

Criteria for rehabilitation:

Already instrumented: Yes/No.

Photograph attached: Yes/No.

Original construction drawings are available10: Yes/No

 

10At a minimum, drawings depicting the original existing construction conditions are required. These can be from 

the bid set or they can be drawings that have been created by field measurements. 
42 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

Seismicity (2003 NEHRP map values): Ss: 

S1: 

ASCE-7 Site Class (Soil type): A, B, C, D, E, F 

A geotechnical report is available: Yes/No:

Owner:

Name:

Address:

Public or private:

Access11:

The owner has been contacted and agreed to allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

 Yes/No.

The owner has been contacted and may allow ANSS 

instrumentation and post-earthquake access: 

Yes/No.

Shared Funding: 

The owner or another entity will provide partial funding for 

instrumentation: 

Yes/No/Unknown.

WEIGHTED SCORING 

Seismicity (up to 30 points): 

Seismicity shall be defined by NEHRP map values, using the 

high, medium and low seismicity categories in ASCE 31-03. 

Use ASCE-7 Site Class D when the site class is not known. . 

High (SDS ≥ 0.5g and SD1 ≥ 0.2g) (30)

Medium (Not High or Low) (5)

Low (SDS ≤ 0.167g and SD1 ≤ 0.067g) (1)

Reference Instrument Availability (up to 10 points) 

 

11 If the owner has been contacted and will not agree to instrumentation, do not submit the infrastructure system as a 

candidate for ANSS instrumentation. For an infrastructure system that is short-listed, a letter from the owner will be 

required agreeing to all ANSS instrumentation and usage of the data. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 43 

Free-field station(s) already installed (10)

Free-field location(s) available (8)

SMRS-OG (see COSMOS(2001)) Urban reference station(s) 

already installed (5)

SMRS-OG Urban reference location(s) available (4)

No reference locations available (0)

Unknown (0)

Existing Seismic Instrumentation (up to 10 points): 

Over 10 sensors (10)

3-10 sensors (8)

1-3 sensors (6)

No sensors (0)

Unknown (0)

Current Metadata Availability (up to 25 points): 

Computer models (5):

Nonlinear 3-D computer model available (5)

Linear 3-D computer model available (3)

2-D computer model(s) available (2)

Drawings (10):

As-built structural (10)

Structural design only (4)

None available (0)

Previous instrumentation information (5):

Studies using instrumentation records (5)

Records only (3)

No previous records (0)

Unknown (0)

Material properties (5):

Measured properties (5)

Specified properties (2)
44 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

For remaining issues provide points on a sliding scale 

based on the judgment of reviewer. Details must be 

provided as to why the candidate structure should be 

selected. What data from this structure can assist the 

greater infrastructure community? 

Structure Type (15 points)

Site Conditions (15 points)

. 

Special Issues (10 points)

Total Score from Categories with Listed Point Values: 

Statement of Purpose (Engineering Rationale) for Instrumenting and Monitoring System: 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 45 

Objectives of the Measurement System: 

Other Issues: List any other issues of interest in instrumenting this infrastructure system that 

the ANSS SRMC should consider as part of their review. 
46 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

APPENDIX G: Technical Specifications for Instrumentation 

G.1. Acceleration Sensors 

Accelerometers have been the primary sensors used for response monitoring in the past. Below 

are basic specifications for accelerometers. These specifications are compatible with the 

specifications for ANSS ground motion monitoring accelerometers. 

• +/-4g full-scale is sufficient for both reference stations and building response 

accelerometers; 

• >4g full-scale should be considered for special measurements (e.g., 

impact/pounding, special buildings, equipment); 

• <4g full-scale may be sufficient for downhole measurements; 

• Frequency response should be 0.02 – 50 Hz minimum. The high frequency 

response should be appropriately increased when high accelerations are 

anticipated in specific installations (e.g., building pounding, brittle fracture); 

• Dynamic range (clip level/rms noise level) of at least 120 dB in the range .02 to 2 

Hz and at least 100 dB in the range 2 to 50 Hz. 

• Nominal distortion less than -60 dB and 

• Nominal cross axis coupling less than -40 dB. 

• Operating temperature range of -20 to +60 degrees C. Instrument sensitivity and 

output offset should remain within 1% of nominal value over a temperature range 

of 0 to 40 degrees C and within 2% over entire temperature range. Gain stable to 

1 % under all conditions. 

• Transfer functions should be supplied with each instrument and should be 

accurate to within 1% in amplitude and 4 degrees in phase over the pass band of 

the instrument. 

• Hysteresis in acceleration offset should be less than –100 dB referenced to full 

scale under all conditions. 

• Calibration input, remote calibration enable function, and manual offset 

adjustment, if present, should be lockable to prevent non-linear effects. 

• Instrument output should be unaffected by reasonable changes in magnetic field 

and atmospheric pressure and reasonable levels of radio frequency interference. 

• Instruments should be designed for a 10-year (minimum) life and should be 

demonstrated to have a 40,000 hour (minimum) mean time between failures. 

• Power consumption should not be greater than 1 watt in operational mode at 12 

VDC. 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 47 

G.2. Cable-Type Displacement Sensors 

This section refers to cable-type displacement sensors also known as: 

• cable actuated position sensor 

• cable extension transducer 

• cable position transducer 

• cable sensor 

• cable-actuated sensor 

• CET 

• CPT 

• stringpot 

• string potentiometer 

• draw wire encoder 

• draw wire transducer 

These names all refer to devices that measure displacement via a flexible displacement cable that 

extracts from and retracts to a spring-loaded drum. This drum is attached to a rotary sensor 

converting rotation to an electrical output. 

For ANSS applications, basic specifications are: 

• Full Stroke Ranges: 0-2 to 0-50 inches 

• Accuracy: 0.5% full stroke

• Repeatability: ± 0.05% full stroke 

• Resolution: 0.01% of full stroke 

• Measuring Cable: nylon-coated stainless steel 

• Enclosure Weather Resistance: NEMA 4 or better 

• Input Power: 14.5–40VDC1, 0 mA max. 

• Operating Temperature: 0° to 200°F 

• Vibration: up to 10 Gs to 2000 Hz maximum

G.3. Weldable Metal Foil Strain Sensors 

There are many types of strain sensors applicable to ANSS response monitoring. The following 

specifications refer to one type, a weldable metal-foil resistance strain gauge. This is suitable for 

long-term installation on steel structural members of steel reinforcing bars where steel yielding is 

not anticipated. 
48 Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 

Nominal specifications are: 

• Material: stainless steel or iconel 

• Compensation temperature range: +10 to +100°C (for thermal expansion of 11ppm/°C) 

• Strain limit : 0.5 (at room temperature 

• Fatigue limit: 1×106

 at room temperature 

G.4. Digitizers 

The general specifications for digitizers or data acquisition systems below are compatible with 

COSMOS (Stepp and Nigbor, ed., 2001) and ANSS ground motion guidelines. 

• Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with input range matched to the sensors. Resolution 

should be at least 16 bits from 0.01 to 50 Hz. Higher resolutions (19 bits or above) are highly 

recommended. 

• The sensitivity of each digitizer channel (counts per volt) should be accurate to 0.1 % or 

better at DC (0 Hz). 

• External time reference accurate to 1 ms absolute. 

• Data samples on all channels running at the same sample rate should be taken simultaneously 

to within 1% of the sample interval. 

• Operating temperature range of -20 to +60 degrees C. Sensitivity stable to 1% over range 0 to 

40 degrees C and to 2% over entire temperature range. 

• Capable of generating control signals matched to sensors, such as lock/unlock, mass center, 

calibrate enable, initiate ring-down or free period test, damping test, etc. Capable of 

generating step, sine, and random binary telegraph calibration signals configurable to provide 

sensor outputs between 5% and 50% of full scale. 

• All channels should be derived from raw digitizer sample rate using linear phase “brick-wall” 

filters with high frequency corner fc at least 80% of the Nyquist frequency and stop band 

amplitude (Nyquist to higher frequencies) at least 120 dB below the pass band. Pass band 

(DC to fc) ripple should be less than 5%. 

• Capable of sampling of at least 200 samples per second per channel. Higher sample rates 

may be needed for some cases. 

• Capable of detecting, and storing on local storage media, events on all channels of each 

sensor, flagging events in the continuous data from the primary sensor, and buffering 

triggered data for transmission from the secondary sensor. 

• Capable of data compression at all sample rates. Packets will have a maximum length of 

1000 samples to provide adequate latency. 

• Data telemetry, if used, should be error corrected, should support standard IP 

communications protocol(s), should support a variety of communications technologies, and 
Guideline for ANSS Seismic Monitoring of Engineered Civil Systems—Version 1.0 49 

should be capable of transmitting backlogged and triggered data without interrupting realtime data delivery. 

• Capable of buffering a minimum of 7 days of seismic data (in the event of a telemetry 

outage) in on-site storage media. 

• Instrument output should be unaffected by reasonable changes in magnetic field and 

reasonable levels of radio frequency interference 

• Instrument should be designed for a 10-year (minimum) life and should be demonstrated to 

have a 40,000 hour (minimum) mean time between failures. 

Power consumption: Not greater than 1 watts average, 2 watts peak at 12 VDC if non-grid power 

(e.g., solar) is used, not limited if mains power used with 30-minute minimum UPS backup.