  The authors propose a methodology to perform seismic damage assessment of
instrumented wood-frame buildings using response measurements. The proposed
methodology employs a nonlinear model-based state observer that combines sparse
acceleration measurements and a nonlinear structural model of a building to
estimate the complete seismic response including displacements, velocity,
acceleration and internal forces in all structural members. From the estimated
seismic response and structural characteristics of each shear wall of the
building, element-by-element seismic damage indices are computed and remaining
useful life (pertaining to seismic effects) is predicted. The methodology is
illustrated using measured data from the 2009 NEESWood Capstone full-scale
shake table tests at the E-Defense facility in Japan.
