Validating a low-cost seismometer using a shaking table

Ambient vibration measurement using a seismometer represent a non-invasive and non-destructive method for seismic-related studies. This method inhibits widespread applications, i.e., assessing site fundamental frequency, estimating bedrock level, calculating building natural frequency, deducing shear wave velocity profile. However, the instrument required to carry out such ambient vibration measurement is generally expensive. Recently, there is a low-cost Raspberry Shake 3D seismometer (RS-3D) available on the market. This seismometer is based on Raspberry Pi hardware. It contains three 4.5 Hz orthogonally oriented geophones, which can be set at a sampling rate of 100 Hz and a bandwidth of -3dB points at 0.6 to 34 Hz. Thus, laboratory testing was carried out to assess this device’s performance in this demanding application. Generally, RS-3D demonstrates a great performance. Further detailed results are presented in this paper.