Non‐planar pseudodynamic testing

The pseudodynamic test method provides a means of inexpensive seismic performance testing for laboratories that do not have a shaking table. However, most pseudodynamic tests to date have used planar portions of structures subjected to a single lateral component of base excitation, mimicking the type of testing that would occur on a shaking table. There has been little work on the extension of the pseudodynamic test method to three‐dimensional testing of structures under multiple components of base excitation. In this paper a three‐dimensional specimen is tested under a multicomponent fixed base excitation and the response is compared to shaking table tests. The paper presents an overview of the pseudodynamic test method, including non‐planar extensions, and highlights many physical problems that occurred during the testing process. Many of these problems apply to any pseudodynamic test, not just non‐planar tests, but the results show that very accurate non‐planar tests can be achieved with careful error control.