DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15516419
title: Experimental Campaign for Dynamic Characterization of a Laboratory-Scale Structure

description: Overview

This dataset accompanies the experimental campaign for the dynamic characterization of a laboratory-scale model of a four-story shear-type building. The testing was performed at ETH Zürich  under the collaboration of ETH Zürich and Politecnico di Milano. The dataset includes time-series data from impact and random excitation tests conducted using a six-degree-of-freedom hydraulic shaking table (hexapod). The full experimental setup, sensor configurations, testing procedures, and dataset structure are thoroughly documented in the accompanying PDF file: "LabStructure_DynamicTestsOverview_DatasetGuide.pdf"

General description of the target structure: the model of a four-story building, approximately 1.2 meters tall with 0.52-meter square floors, is designed to capture lateral dynamic behavior. 

Location of site: the tests were conducted at the Institute of Structural Engineering (IBK), ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

Test phases and measurement systems: Two major testing phases were performed.



Impact testing (Experimental Modal Analysis):



Excitation eith a modal impact hammer

Response measured using 6 uniaxial piezoelectric accelerometers in a roving configuration

Sampling rate: 100 Hz

Total of 32 tests, each comprising eight consecutive impacts



Random Excitation via Hexapod:



Tests conducted at low, medium, and high RMS levels

Directions: x-axis, y-axis, and combined x-y axis

Two structural states tested: baseline (undamaged) and damaged (via bolt loosening)

Measurements taken using:



8-channel piezoelectric accelerometers (sampling rate: 500 Hz)

Optical tracking system (DMM - Optotrack Certus HD) for displacement (sampling rate: 200 Hz)



Three sensor layout configurations used in this phase




Damage Scenario: simulated by loosening bolts at nodes 21-25 on the third floor, affecting the structural stiffness and dynamic response.

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) motivation: this testbed is used to assess and benchmark vibration-based monitoring methodologies. By introducing a controlled damage state, the dataset supports studies in damage detection and system identification.

Structure of the dataset

The dataset is provided as a compressed .zip folder and is accompained with a PDF file describing the structure, testing procedure, labeling, nomenclature and reference systems adopted:



LabStructure_DynamicTestData.zip - dataset

LabStructure_DynamicTestsOverview_DatasetGuide.pdf - accompaining document


The dataset is organized into two main parts:



Impact Testing Data



32 .mat files corresponding to each test, with sensor labels and pre-scaled acceleration data

Metadata provided in .txt files



Random Excitation Testing Data



Piezoelectric accelerometers: 17 .mat files with acceleration responses and sampling frequencsy

DMM Displacement Data: 16 .mat files structured as MATLAB cell arrays with 96 DOFs

Metadata files included




How to cite this dataset

Brambilla, M., Dertimanis, V., Chatzi, E., Chiariotti, P., & Cigada, A. (2025). Experimental Campaign for Dynamic Characterization of a Laboratory-Scale Structure [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15516419

Bibtex

@dataset{brambilla2025experimental,  author       = {Brambilla, Matteo and Dertimanis, Vasilis and Chatzi, Eleni and Chiariotti, Paolo and Cigada, Alfredo},  title        = {Experimental Campaign for Dynamic Characterization of a Laboratory-Scale Structure},  year         = {2025},  publisher    = {Zenodo},  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.15516419},  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15516419},  note         = {Dataset}}