Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698

www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Operational modal analysis and finite element model correlation of the

Braga Stadium suspended roof
Filipe Magalhães ∗ , Elsa Caetano, Álvaro Cunha
Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal

Received 24 April 2007; received in revised form 8 November 2007; accepted 9 November 2007
Available online 21 December 2007

Abstract

The paper presents the most relevant results obtained from the application of different output-only modal identification methods to data
collected in dynamic tests of the new Braga Sports Stadium suspended roof and the subsequent finite element model correlation analysis. This
experimental work allowed the validation of the numerical modelling of the suspended roof, which takes into account the geometric non-linear
structural behaviour and the progressive application of loads during the construction phase. Particular attention was given to identification of
modal damping ratios, due to the necessity of analysing the susceptibility of the suspended roof to buffeting effects. Modal damping ratios were
estimated from data provided by free, forced and ambient vibration tests, using an improved implementation of the Enhanced Frequency Domain
Method and the Stochastic Subspace Identification Methods: SSI-DATA and SSI-COV.
c 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Suspended roof; Ambient vibration test; Free vibration tests; Output-only modal identification; Finite element model correlation

1. Introduction different numerical models of the structure and a series of wind

The Braga Municipal Sports Stadium (Fig. 1) is one of the
stadia that were recently constructed in Portugal to host some of
the matches of the 2004 European Football Championship. The
stadium, designed by Eduardo Souto Moura in conjunction with
the consultancy office Afassociados [1], has been considered
a masterpiece of architecture. The roof suspended by cables
is unique and presented a particular challenge in terms of
conception, structural design and construction.
The innovative characteristics of this roof structure, as well
as the resulting flexibility, have motivated extensive studies
developed during the design phase by various independent
entities, whose purpose was to adequately define the design
wind load, to evaluate the corresponding static and dynamic
behaviour, and to investigate the susceptibility to aeroelastic
instabilities. These studies comprehended the development of
∗ Corresponding address: Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto
(FEUP), Department of Civil Engineering, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465
Porto, Portugal. Tel.:+351 225081854; fax: +351 225081835.
E-mail addresses: filipema@fe.up.pt (F. Magalhães), acunha@fe.up.pt
(Á. Cunha).
URL: http://www.fe.up.pt/vibest (Á. Cunha).
tunnel tests performed on physical models.
The Laboratory of Vibrations and Monitoring (VIBEST,
http://www.fe.up.pt/vibest) of the Faculty of Engineering of
the University of Porto (FEUP) was consulted in this context,
at an early stage of the project, with the aim of developing
a static and dynamic study of the roof structure [2]. The
developed numerical models were used first in the definition
of the geometric and mechanical characteristics of the cables
and slabs and the calculated dynamic properties were later used
in the construction of a physical model for wind tunnel tests.
After the stadium has been constructed, VIBEST/FEUP was
also consulted to analyse data provided by forced and free
vibration tests developed by the contractor and performed a
complete ambient vibration test of the suspended roof [3], in
order to measure the corresponding dynamic properties and use
them to validate the developed numerical model.
Under these circumstances, it is the purpose of the
current paper to present the most relevant results obtained
from application of different output-only modal identification
methods to data collected in dynamic tests of the new
Braga Sports Stadium suspended roof and the subsequent
finite element correlation analysis. This work allowed the

c 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

0141-0296/$ - see front matter

doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.11.010
 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
Fig. 1. Braga Municipal Sports Stadium (lateral view of the east stand and top view of the roof from the west side).
Fig. 2. Scheme of the Braga Municipal Sports Stadium.
experimental validation of the numerical modelling of the
dynamic behaviour of the suspended roof, which takes into
account the geometric non-linear structural behaviour and the
progressive application of loads during the construction phase.
The identification of the modal parameters was an
interesting challenge, as the flexibility of the roof is associated
with very low and closely spaced natural frequencies. Particular
attention was given to identification of modal damping ratios,
due to the necessity of analysing the susceptibility of the
suspended roof to buffeting effects. These coefficients were
estimated using data provided by free, forced and ambient
vibration tests, and using an improved implementation of
the Enhanced Frequency Domain Method and the Stochastic
Subspace Identification Methods: SSI-DATA and SSI-COV.
The comparison of the estimates achieved by application of
output-only identification methods with the ones provided by
data collected in artificial excitation tests was important to
understand the capabilities of each approach.
2. Description of the structure
The stadium was constructed on the slopes of Monte Castro,
and developed as an amphitheatre over a wide rural landscape,
formed only by two rows of stands, on either side of the
pitch, and by a granite massif (Fig. 2). The most noticeable
element of the stadium is its roof (Fig. 3), which is formed
by pairs of full locked coil cables with diameters varying
between 86 and 80 mm, spaced 3.75 m apart from each
other, supporting two concrete slabs over the two stands of
the stadium. The cables’ span is 202 m and the slabs’ length
is 57.3 m, therefore the remaining 88.4 m of the central part
are free. The rain water is drained from the roof along one
side only, the slope being achieved by a variation of the
length of the cables. The concrete slabs have a thickness of
0.245 m and are connected to the cables only in the normal
1689
direction, allowing relative tangential movements. A transversal
triangular truss is suspended from the inner border of each slab
acting as a stiffness beam and simultaneously accommodating
the floodlights and loudspeakers.
The roof cables are anchored in two large beams at the
top of both stands — east and west. The east stand (Fig. 2,
3) is structurally formed by 50 m high concrete walls, whose
geometry was defined in order to minimize the unbalanced
moments at the level of the foundation, motivated by the
combination of the gravitational action of the stand and the high
forces transmitted by the roof cables. In the west stand (Fig. 2),
the concrete walls are anchored in the rock and the roof cables’
tension forces are transmitted to the foundation by prestressing
tendons embedded in the concrete.
The outstanding characteristics of the structure and the need
for a tight control of the corresponding behaviour during the
construction justified the installation of a monitoring system,
which comprehends static and dynamic components. The static
monitoring system was essential during the construction and
is based on a series of load cells installed in the cables’
anchorages, on embedded instrumentation of the concrete
structure (strain gauges, tiltmeters and thermometers) and on
instrumentation of the rock massifs and foundations, with
load cells installed in the anchors to the earth and in-place
inclinometers. The dynamic monitoring system is important to
observe the response of the roof to the wind excitation and is
composed by 6 accelerometers, installed in the inner edges of
the concrete slabs, and by cells to measure the wind pressure at
various points on the underside and top of the roof slabs.
The processing of experimental data continuously collected
by this long term dynamic monitoring system is beyond
the scope of the present paper. However, the installed
accelerometers were used to characterize the dynamic response
of the roof during the free vibration tests described in Section 5,
whereas the ambient vibration test described in Section 3 was
1690 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698

Fig. 3. Views of Braga Municipal Sports Stadium suspended roof (east stand, cables of the roof, slab of the east stand, detail of the connection between the cables
and the slab, detail of the triangular truss in the inner border of the east slab and west stand and slab).

(a) Seismograph. (b) Test 1 layout. (c) Test 2 layout.

Fig. 4. Placement of one of the seismographs used (a) and measurement points of the ambient vibration test: (b) 1st day, (c) 2nd day. (• reference points; ◦ points
measured with moving sensors).

performed with a portable dynamic measurement system from
FEUP, described in the next section.
3. Operational modal analysis
3.1. Ambient vibration test
The ambient vibration test consisted of the measurement of
the vertical acceleration at 42 points of the roof, using 3 strong
motion recorders (Fig. 4(a), http://www.geosig.com). These
devices are constituted by very sensitive internal force balance
accelerometers with full-scale range from −0.5g to +0.5g,
a peak to peak noise lower than 50 µg and linear behaviour
from DC to 50 Hz, 18 bit analog-to-digital converters (to
guarantee high resolution), batteries that enable autonomy for
one day of tests, memories consisting of removable Compact
Flash cards that permit a fast download of the acquired data
and external GPS sensors to ensure an accurate time, so that
they can work independently and synchronously, avoiding the
use of cables and minimizing the labour associated with the
preparation of the dynamic test. In the present test, the use
of cables connecting equipment placed on both sides of the
suspended roof would make the test extremely complex.
The test was performed in two days. On the first day,
the measurements were done at the points of the west slab
represented in Fig. 4(b), using 13 setups, while on the second
day the measurements were carried out at the points of the west
and east slabs represented in Fig. 4(c), using 15 setups.
On the first day of measurements, two reference points were
considered (two recorders were permanently placed at points
1 and 7 during all setups). After a preliminary analysis of
the data, it was concluded that, for the frequency range of
interest (0–1 Hz), all the modes were detected by the reference
sensor placed at point 7. Thus, it was decided to use just this
reference for the remaining measurement sections, in order
to reduce the duration of the test. The test developed on the
second day provided a set of new responses on the east slab
and more response measurements on the west side slab that
allowed the improvement of the spatial resolution used in the
characterization of the mode shapes.
For each setup, time series of 16 min were collected with a
sampling frequency of 100 Hz (minimum sampling frequency
allowed by the acquisition system). Fig. 5 represents one of
the time series collected at point 7 (reference point). Fig. 6
shows the variation of the standard deviation of the time series
measured at point 7 during the 28 setups. The amplitude of
 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
Fig. 5. Vertical acceleration time series measured at section 7 during the first
setup.
Fig. 6. Variation of the standard deviation of the time series measured at point
7 along the 28 setups.
vibration is essentially dependent on wind, as this was the
only significant dynamic excitation of the roof during the test.
Therefore, the graph shows that, during the first day of test
(a rainy and windy day), the wind speed was higher and had
greater fluctuations than on the second day (a sunny and calm
day).
Fig. 7. Mode shapes estimated by the FDD method.
1691
During the tests, the maximum value of recorded vertical
acceleration was of about 5 mg, denoting a very low level of
oscillation of the roof structure.
3.2. Frequency domain decomposition
3.2.1. Identification of natural frequencies and mode shapes
The ambient vibration response was initially processed
by the Artemis software [4] using the Frequency Domain
Decomposition method [5]. This method is based on spectral
matrices of the ambient responses. For each setup, a matrix
is calculated with one row for each measurement point and
one column for each point selected as reference. Therefore, the
matrix columns contain the cross spectra relating the structural
response at all measurement points with the corresponding
response at each reference point. It can be shown [5] that, under
some assumptions (white noise excitation, low damping and
orthogonal mode shapes for close modes), the singular values
of the spectral matrix are auto-spectral density functions of
single degree of freedom systems with the same frequency and
damping as the structure vibration modes. Thus, the natural
frequencies are identified from the peaks of these auto-spectra.
The mode shapes are identified from the singular vectors
of the spectral matrices evaluated at the identified resonance
frequencies and associated with the singular values that contain
the peaks.
In the present application the spectral matrices were
calculated with a resolution of 0.00488 Hz (using time
segments with 204.92 s), which allowed the achievement
of spectra with clear peaks and sufficient accuracy in
the identification of the natural frequencies (the frequency
resolution is approximately 1.8% of the lower natural
frequency). Fig. 7 represents the configurations of the most
1692 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
Fig. 8. Procedure for the estimation of the modal damping ratios.
relevant identified mode shapes, showing the good quality of
the results and the existence of pairs of closely spaced modes.
These are justified by the slope of the roof to drain the rain
water, which breaks the symmetry of the structure with respect
to the middle axis parallel to the cables. The lower spatial
resolution of the measurements performed in the east slab
explains the inferior quality of the estimates of the last three
mode shapes in this slab.
3.2.2. Identification of modal damping ratios
The modal damping ratios can be estimated using an
enhanced version of the FDD method, the EFDD method [6].
Usually, when the ambient vibration test is performed using
several setups, the modal damping ratios, as well as the natural
frequencies, are estimated using independently the spectral
matrix of each setup and then the final estimates are obtained
averaging the estimates provided by all the setups.
In the present case, the duration of each setup time series
is not sufficiently long to accurately estimate modal damping
ratios of modes with so low natural frequencies, especially
because very small values of damping are expected.
However, on the first day of tests, the vertical accelerations at
points 1 and 7 (points defined as references in Fig. 4(b)) were
measured simultaneously during 13 setups, which means that
these 13 time series with 16 min are a good basis to evaluate
the modal damping ratios.
Beyond that, to increase the accuracy of the estimates, the
auto-correlation functions were calculated using an alternative
procedure with regard to that presented in reference [6], in order
to avoid the circular error (the calculated auto-correlation is a
superposition of the desired function and its mirror image [7]).
These were obtained using an adaptation of the procedure
described in reference [8], which is also based on a FFT (Fast
Fourier Transform) approach and consists of the following
steps: (i) selection of time segments from the measured signals
without application of windows, (ii) doubling of the length of
the time segments by adding zeros at the end, (iii) calculation
of auto-spectra and cross-spectra functions to construct the
spectral matrix, (iv) averaging of the spectra estimates to
reduce random errors, (v) singular value decomposition of the
Fig. 9. Singular values of the spectral matrix calculated using the time series
collected at the reference points (1 and 7) and selection of the auto-spectra of
each mode.
spectral matrix, (vi) selection of the singular values associated
to a particular mode using the MAC (Modal Assurance
Criterion [9]) values, (vii) inverse FFT of the spectrum formed
by the selected points and zeros at the remaining abscissas and,
finally, (viii) division of the resulting auto-correlation function
by a triangular window (w(t) = (T − t)/T , where T is
the length of the selected time series). The modal damping
ratio of the mode under analysis is then estimated from the
exponential function adjusted to the relative maxima of the
auto-correlation function. The steps of this improved method
are illustrated in Fig. 8.
In the processing of the available data collected at points 1
and 7, time series with 11 min were selected using an overlap
of 54%, allowing the calculation of averages over 26 record
estimates. The singular values calculated from the spectral
matrix, with dimension 2 × 2, are represented in Fig. 9. In
the same graph the points chosen to estimate the auto-spectra
(Spi) associated to 6 different modes are selected (points with
MAC > 0.8). For the other modes, identified in the plot
by the peaks, it is not possible to select well defined auto-
spectra, due to the proximity between resonance peaks. The
natural frequencies identified in the graph and summarized in
Table 1 have been obtained with higher accuracy than the ones
presented in Fig. 7, as the frequency resolution is higher in this
 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
Table 1
Natural frequencies and modal damping ratios (EFDD method)
Mode f (Hz)
1 0.276
2 0.292
3 0.523
4 0.539
5 0.556
6 0.632
7 0.655
8 0.684
9 0.703
10 0.737
11 0.874
Fig. 10. Normalized auto-correlation functions associated with modes 1 and 6.
analysis (0.000763 Hz), given the longer time segments used
for the spectra calculation.
Fig. 10 shows two of the auto-correlation functions
calculated from the identified auto-spectra. The envelopes of
these functions were fitted by exponential decays to estimate
the modal damping ratios presented in Table 1.
3.3. Stochastic subspace identification
Despite the very good quality of the estimates of natural
frequencies and mode shapes obtained by the FDD method,
the Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) methods were
also applied with the main objective of comparing estimates
of modal damping ratios using different output-only modal
identification techniques. For this purpose, the data collected on
the first day of tests was used. In order to reduce the influence
of the aerodynamic damping, it would have been better to use
data collected during the second day (wind velocities very low).
However, the data of the first day has the advantage of having
two reference points.
3.3.1. Covariance driven stochastic subspace identification
method
The Covariance driven Stochastic Subspace Identification
method (SSI-COV) performs the identification of the modal
parameters using a stochastic state space model that, in its
discrete form and assuming the excitation as a white noise, is
1693
represented by the following equations:
xk+1 = A · xk + wk
Damp. (%) (1)
yk = C · xk + vk .
0.58
0.52 Identification of matrices A and C is performed from the
0.47
–
correlation functions of the measured responses time series.
– The algorithm of the method is based on the properties
0.35 of stochastic systems [10] and involves a singular value
– decomposition and the resolution of a least-squares equation.
–
After identification of the state space model, modal
–
0.25 parameters are extracted from matrices A and C. It is worth
0.36 noting that the identification of the state space model requires
the definition of the order of the model. However, for real
Civil Engineering Structures it is not possible to predict the
order of the model that better fits the experimental data and
more realistically characterizes the dynamic behaviour of the
structure. The most appropriate way to overcome this difficulty
is to estimate the modal parameters using models with an order
defined within an interval previously fixed in a conservative
way. The identified modal parameters are then represented in a
stabilization diagram. This diagram shows parameters that are
stable for models of increasing orders, and these are the ones
with structural significance. The others are just associated with
numerical modes, which are important to model the noise that
always exists in measured data.
In the present work the covariance driven Stochastic
Subspace Identification Method (SSI-COV) was applied using
MatLab routines developed at the University of Porto [11].
Before application of the identification algorithm, the measured
signals were filtered by a low pass filter with a cut-off frequency
of 1 Hz and a decimation of order 20 was applied (reducing the
sampling frequency from 100 to 5 Hz).
The correlation functions are the basis of this identification
method. These can be estimated using three different
procedures: the direct definition (summation formula), the FFT
or the Random Decrement. In the present application, the
first alternative was used, which is not very computationally
efficient, but does not introduce bias and is easy to programme.
Furthermore, the number of points of the correlation
functions used by the identification method has to be defined.
This parameter, usually represented by 2.i (i is the number of
block columns of the Toeplitz matrix [12]), has influence on
two aspects: the maximum order of the estimated model (equal
to i.r , r being the number of points measured in each setup);
the quality of the stabilization diagrams and consequently of
the estimated modal parameters. This last aspect is illustrated in
Fig. 11, which shows that increasing the i parameter, the quality
of the stabilization diagrams also increases (better defined
vertical alignments of stable poles). The increase of i has also
the drawback of increasing substantially the calculation effort,
so it is important to find a balance between the desired quality
and the processing time. Taking that into account, i = 100 was
adopted in the present application, meaning that the segments
of the correlation function selected for the identification contain
2 × 100/5 × 0.275 = 11 cycles of the lowest frequency. It is
worth noting that, if decimation was not applied, it would be
1694 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698

Fig. 11. SSI-COV method stabilization diagrams of setup 4: (a) i = 50; (b) i = 100.

Table 2
Natural frequencies and modal damping ratios (SSI-COV method)

Mode f (Hz) Std. f (Hz) Damp. (%) Std. damp. (%)

1 0.276 0.0008 0.50 0.25
2 0.292 0.0007 0.42 0.20
3 0.521 0.0014 0.44 0.20
4 0.539 0.0014 0.40 0.33
5 0.558 0.0012 0.47 0.19
6 0.632 0.0012 0.54 0.37
7 0.655 0.0019 0.28 0.09
8 0.684 0.0010 0.27 0.19
9 0.702 0.0010 0.26 0.10
10 0.737 0.0009 0.26 0.13
Fig. 12. Dispersion of the estimated modal damping ratios (SSI-COV). 11 0.874 0.0016 0.41 0.10

necessary to adopt a higher i to have the same number of cycles

and thus increase dramatically the calculation effort.
The data of the 13 setups was processed independently using
the three collected time series and so 13 stabilization diagrams,
like the one presented in Fig. 11(b), were constructed. This
diagram shows that the dynamic behaviour of the structure is
well represented by state-space models of order between 20
and 40. The use of models of this relatively low order was only
possible because a low pass filter was applied, which eliminated
the contribution of modes with frequencies greater than 1 Hz.
The most suitable model order was selected for each of
the 13 stabilization diagrams, and the corresponding natural
frequencies and modal damping ratios were calculated. Fig. 12
shows the 13 estimates of frequencies and modal damping
ratios for the 11 identified modes. The graph shows that the
dispersion of the estimates of natural frequencies for the various
setups is very low, whereas the estimates of modal damping
ratios present significantly higher scatter. This dispersion shows
the difficulty of getting reliable damping estimates, which stems
not only from the uncertainties of the method but also from the
variation of damping with the level of oscillation and with the
wind characteristics. Table 2 presents the mean and standard
deviation (Std) of the identified modal parameters.
3.3.2. Data driven stochastic subspace identification method
The Data Driven Stochastic Subspace Identification method
(SSI-DATA) is very similar to the SSI-COV method. The main
difference is that the identification of matrices A and C is
performed directly from the time series using the concept of
projection of subspaces. The algorithm of the method is based
on the main theorem of stochastic subspace identification [10]
and involves a QR factorization (the QR factorization expresses
any rectangular matrix as the product of an orthogonal or
unitary matrix and an upper triangular matrix), a singular value
decomposition and the resolution of a least-squares equation.
After the identification of the A and C matrices the procedure
for the identification of the modal parameters is the same as that
used in the SSI-COV method.
In the present application this identification method was also
applied with the Artemis software [4], using the data provided
by the pre-processing procedures described in the previous
section (decimation and filtering). For this purpose, the user
has to define the expected number of modes, including the
structural modes, the modes associated with harmonic loads
and the modes needed to model the noise. This parameter is an
indirect way of defining the value of i—one half of the number
of rows of the Hankel matrix [13], which is closely related with
the i parameter of the SSI-COV method. In this application,
a very conservative number of modes was defined (a total of
100), allowing us to estimate state space models with orders up
to 200.
Inspection of stabilization diagrams, such as that represented
in Fig. 13, showed that models with orders between 30 and 50
are able to characterise the dynamic behaviour of the structure.
Even so, as in the SSI-COV method, the overestimation of
the i parameter is important to improve the quality of the
 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698 1695

Fig. 13. SSI-DATA method stabilization diagram of setup 4.

Table 3 Table 4
Natural frequencies and modal damping ratios (SSI-DATA method) Calculated vs identified (SSI-COV) natural frequencies

Mode f (Hz) Std. f (Hz) Damp. (%) Std. damp. (%) Mode Frequency (Hz)
Calculated Identified
1 0.275 0.0007 0.51 0.20
2 0.292 0.0005 0.48 0.22 1 0.277 0.276
3 0.521 0.0008 0.39 0.09 2 0.305 0.292
4 0.539 0.0027 0.33 0.22 3 0.520 0.521
5 0.558 0.0012 0.53 0.23 4 0.532 0.539
6 0.631 0.0012 0.47 0.25 5 0.574 0.558
7 0.654 0.0032 0.73 0.51 6 0.610 0.632
8 0.684 0.0012 0.30 0.15 7 0.673 0.655
9 0.701 0.0010 0.31 0.17 8 0.678 0.684
10 0.737 0.0010 0.29 0.14 9 0.712 0.702
11 0.875 0.0015 0.38 0.10 10 0.754 0.737
11 0.844 0.874

stabilization diagrams and of the estimated modal parameters.

Table 3 summarizes the results (mean and standard deviation of
natural frequencies and modal damping ratios estimated from
the data of the 13 setups) and shows, once again, the scattering
of damping estimates. Despite this dispersion, the estimates
provided by all the applied methods are similar for the majority
of the modes.
4. Finite element correlation
4.1. Finite element modelling
The analysis of the static and dynamic behaviour of the
suspended roof was based on a three-dimensional finite element
model [14]. This model was formed by a total of 34 cables
spaced at 3.75 m intervals, which were idealized as 89 truss
elements each. These were linked by shell elements, simulating
the slabs, which were only activated after full application of the
corresponding weight, and were linked also by transversal truss
girders at the ends of the slabs, simulating the lattice structures
used to accommodate the floodlights and loudspeakers. An
overall slab thickness of 0.245 m was considered. In order to
accommodate thermal deformations without further stressing
the cables, sliding between the cables and slabs was allowed.
This effect was achieved by definition of different layers of
nodes for the cables and slabs, which were constrained to
identical vertical displacements. A 1% slope was created along
the transversal direction by gradual modification of successive
cables’ length, the purpose being the water draining.
The modal parameters (natural frequencies and mode
shapes) were calculated using the tangent stiffness matrix of
the global structure after application of permanent loads, which
was evaluated taking into account the geometric nonlinear
characteristics of this cable structure and simulating the
progressive application of loads during the construction phase.
Table 4 summarizes the first 11 calculated natural frequencies,
while the first six mode shapes are represented in Fig. 14.
4.2. Correlation between experimental and numerical frequen-
cies and mode shapes
The numerical and experimental assessment of the dynamic
behaviour of the Braga Stadium suspended roof allowed the
achievement of an excellent correlation between calculated
and identified modal parameters (natural frequencies and
mode shapes), which gives evidence of the high quality of
the complex finite element modelling developed, as well as
the accurate and reliable nature of the output-only modal
identification techniques employed.
The very good agreement obtained in terms of natural
frequencies is shown in Table 4. Inspection of Fig. 15 also
shows an excellent agreement between calculated and measured
mode shapes, expressed by the high values of the diagonal of
the MAC (Modal Assurance Criterion [9]) matrix and almost
null values of the off-diagonal terms.
It is important to stress that this very good correlation
was achieved without the need of any finite element model
updating, owing to the high level of sophistication of the
numerical modelling, which involved the construction of
different numerical models with increasing complexity (a plane
model of a single cable, a plane model of a roof strip and
finally a global 3-D finite element model, involving shell and
1696 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
Fig. 14. Calculated modal configurations of the first six modes.
Fig. 15. MAC matrix for the identified vs calculated vibration modes.
bar elements), that were able to take into account the geometric
nonlinear characteristics of the structure and the progressive
application of loads during the construction phase, satisfying
the architectural geometric design requirements in terms of
sag/span ratio [14].
Furthermore, it can be considered that the identified modal
parameters are representative of the structural behaviour for the
expected environmental temperatures during the roof’s lifetime.
In effect, the structural system and in particular the connection
between the concrete slabs and the cables, using sliding braces,
have been studied in order to improve the behaviour to thermal
actions. Numerical simulations have shown that even for high
temperature variations from −20 to 40 ◦ C, the drifts of the
natural frequencies are lower than 1.2%.
5. Modal damping estimation from free decays
The identification of modal damping ratios on the prototype
structure was developed, in the first instance, at the request
of the design office Afassociados [15], based on a set of
data collected by the instrumentation installed at the roof
structure, during the forced and free vibration tests developed
at the commissioning phase. In this section, the corresponding
estimated modal damping factors are compared with the ones
provided by the output-only identification techniques.
The free vibration test was based on the sudden release of a
5 ton mass from a point located close to mark 1 (represented
in Fig. 4(b)). The response was collected by the six tri-
axial force-balance accelerometers of the dynamic monitoring
system, which are located at marks 1, 7, 13, 31, 37 and 43
(Fig. 4). Fig. 16(a) represents the response measured at point
31. The application of band-pass filters to the measured signals
enables the evaluation of modal free vibration responses, which
were used to estimate the modal damping ratios presented
in the second column of Table 5. This procedure faces two
problems that explain the missing values in the table: the
low level of excitation of some modes and the difficulty
to isolate the contribution of modes with very close natural
frequencies. An alternative to this procedure consists in using
the measured response to the impulse as input to the SSI-COV
method, as responses motivated by impulses are proportional
to correlations of responses to white noise excitations. This
technique was used after application of a low-pass filter with
a cut-off frequency of 1 Hz, and a decimation to reduce the
sampling frequency to 5 Hz. The results obtained are presented
in the third column of Table 5. It is relevant to observe that the
new estimates are very consistent with the previous ones, for
the modes where both techniques provided results.
Forced vibration tests were further conducted, based on a
harmonic excitation of the roof at resonance, by means of a
cable pulled by an electric engine from marks 1 or 7 (Fig. 4(b)).
After resonance was attained, the excitation was suppressed
and the free vibration response measured by the same 6
accelerometers. Using this procedure, 5 modes were excited
and so 5 free decays were measured, like the one represented
in Fig. 16(b). The fourth column of Table 5 shows the values
of the corresponding identified modal damping ratios, which
shows consistency with previously described estimates.
 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698 1697

Table 5
Summary of all the identified modal damping coefficients (%)

Mode Free vib. filter Free vib. SSI-COV Harmonic excitation Ambient vibration
FDD SSI-COV SSI-DATA
1 – 0.29 0.28 0.58 0.50 0.51
2 – 0.37 0.27 0.52 0.42 0.48
3 0.28 0.32 0.22 0.47 0.44 0.39
4 0.25 0.22 – – 0.40 0.33
5 – 0.44 – – 0.47 0.53
6 0.34 0.36 0.43 0.35 0.54 0.47
7 – 0.29 – – 0.28 0.73
8 – 0.11 0.20 – 0.27 0.30
9 – 0.18 – – 0.26 0.31
10 0.20 0.18 – 0.25 0.26 0.29
11 – – – 0.36 0.41 0.38

Fig. 16. Free decays measured after the application of an impulse (a) and after harmonic excitation of the 2nd mode (b).

The comparison between modal damping coefficients
identified using artificial and ambient excitation shows the
existence of satisfactory correlation. However, one can notice
that relative differences tend to increase at lower frequencies.
In effect, the difficulty in identifying modal damping ratios
is well known, since they are dependent on the amplitude
of vibration and also on the wind characteristics, which can
introduce a significant component of aerodynamic damping,
as experimentally observed in [16]. The very low damping
values of this structure make the comparison even more difficult
because very small differences are expressed by significant
relative errors.
As for the quality of the estimates provided by the various
identification methods, it is relevant to stress that in the present
case, the results provided by the FDD method are close to the
ones obtained by the SSI methods, as very long time series
were used and an alternative procedure to estimate the auto-
correlation function was introduced. It’s still worth mentioning
that the application of the standard EFDD method, using
independently the time series of each setup (with 16 min), led to
values of modal damping ratios for the first modes of about 1%.
6. Conclusions
The paper describes the experimental assessment of the
most relevant dynamic properties of the new Braga Sports
Stadium suspended roof, on the basis of the application
of different output-only modal identification techniques, and
the subsequent validation of the finite element modelling
previously developed to investigate the static and dynamic
behaviour of this complex structure.
It is shown that, despite the low levels of signal captured
during the ambient vibration test and the existence of a
large number of modes of vibration in the frequency range
0–1 Hz, the available stochastic modal identification methods
can provide very accurate estimates of natural frequencies
and mode shapes, which present an excellent correlation with
the corresponding calculated values. This agreement validates
the sophisticated finite element modelling, which takes into
account the geometric non-linear structural behaviour and the
progressive application of the loads.
Due to the major importance of damping in the aerodynamic
behaviour of the suspended roof, special attention was
dedicated to the estimation of modal damping ratios either
from free vibration or ambient vibration tests. Results achieved
show that, even in this challenging structure, with extremely
low natural frequencies and damping factors and with closely
spaced modes, operational modal analysis can provide reliable
estimates of the order of magnitude of modal damping ratios
(absolute differences inferior to 0.25%), constituting therefore
an interesting alternative to the more costly, but certainly more
accurate, procedures based on artificial excitation. An essential
1698 F. Magalhães et al. / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 1688–1698
aspect in the application of the operational modal analysis is
the use of very long time records, preferably collected over a
period of very low and steady wind velocity condition. Even
so, further research is still needed to improve the potential of
operational modal analysis to estimate modal damping ratios.
Acknowledgments
The Ph.D. Scholarship (SFRH/BD/24423/2005) provided by
the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
to the first author is acknowledged.
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