In this study, the classical and modern signal processing
methods are used to extract dominant frequencies of Masjed
Soleiman dam, the highest embankment dam in Iran. The signals
were recorded in the gallery, mid-height and the crest of the
dam during local earthquakes. Since the amplitude and frequency
contents of earthquake acceleration time histories vary with
time, classical signal processing techniques are limited to
extracting the exact characteristics of the signal. Time-
frequency distribution and wavelet analysis were used in this
study to overcome this limitation. The proposed modal
frequencies of the dam body were evaluated using both the
classical and new techniques and the results compared.
Differences between the two sets of methods are described and
the benefits of the modern signal processing methods are
discussed. It is shown that, in non-stationary signals such as
earthquake records, higher frequencies are extracted by modern
methods that cannot be obtained using classical methods.
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