Ricardo Taborda

A simple procedure to convert an acceleration record into a signal composed by a few number of pulses is proposed. The reduction of the original motion is achieved by means of the discrete wavelet transform. Two parameters are used for analyzing the resultant signal: the response spectrum of a single degree of freedom and the energy of the signal. Good agreement is found between the response spectra of the original and the reduce signal. Additionally, the pulses decomposition of the reduced signal is compared with the multiresolution representation of the original one as well as with its velocity and displacement signals. Conclusions about the obtained results and the possible uses of the proposed technique in earthquake engineering are discussed.