Application of GPS to monitoring of wind-induced responses of high-rise buildings

A new monitoring system using GPS is introduced to measure wind-induced responses of high-rise buildings. In this paper, wind-induced responses of a long-period structure include relative lateral displacements, acceleration records, and torsional displacements at the top of a building. After comparing responses of a test model measured by GPS with responses obtained by the most commonly used laser displacement meters and accelerometers, the wind-induced responses of a 66-story high-rise building subject to the yellow dust storm were measured by the GPS-based monitoring system. Based on the field measurement, it is concluded that the complete motion history of a high-rise building can be monitored by GPS.