Fundamental of vibration theory

Discrete System
The vibration of a structural can be simplified with a lump of mass that is vibrated
by a spring with a stiffness, k and damped by a coefficient, c. Figure1 shows a
single-degree-of-freedom system (SDOF) that has been studied.

Figure1: Single-degree-of-Freedom System

The vibrations of a single-degree-of-freedom structure are governed by the
equation as shown below:

m x ( t ) +c x ( t ) +kx ( t )=f ( t )
(eq1)
Where:
m=mass of the structure
c=damping coefficient
k=stiffness coefficient
x(t)=displacement

x ( t ) =acceleration
x ( t ) =velocity

f(t)=external excitation force

In reality, a structural system does not consist of only a lump mass. The formulae
have to be further improved to become a multiple-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) which
the equation is quite similar to equation 1. However, the mass and stiffness are in
matrices and its damping coefficient, which is a damping matrix, cannot be easily
evaluated. Therefore, finite element method is commonly used to solve this
problem.
Continuous Systems
For the continuous system, the displacement, velocity and acceleration at a certain
position and time are related to the mass and stiffness of the system with an initial
force. Equation 1 clearly shows a continuous system such as a beam in bending:

2 w
4 w
m 2 + EI
=F ( x , t)
t
x4
(eq2)
Where:
m is the distributed mass
w is the displacement of the beam, as a function of x and t
t is the time
EI is the bending stiffness
x is the position along the beam
F(x,t) is the forcing function
Equation 2 has to be solved by understanding the boundary condition of the given
problem.
Dynamic properties of a structure

All structures has its natural frequency,

fn

, which is the frequency it will vibrate

when displaced and then quickly replaced. Structures have large number of natural
frequency, which is depend on the mode of vibration but lowest natural frequency is
mostly concerned. It is most concerned because resonance will occur if the exciting
force such as footfalls is equal to the natural frequency. When resonance occurs,
the amplitude of the motion tends to be amplified rather than subsided.
There are many mode shapes when a floor structure vibrates freely with its
individual natural frequency. There are three general mode shapes for vertical
vibration as shown in figure1.

Figure1: Mode shape of simple supported beam

Response spectrum is normally used to show the variation of relative amplitude
with frequency of the vibration components that contribute to the motion. From
response spectrum in figure1, it can be noted that there is a peak at every whole
number of the ratio of natural frequency to the pacing frequency, r. The ratio of 1 is
determined as the first harmonic of the footfall forces. Besides that, the higher the
damping ratio, the lower the peak velocity is shown in the figure as well. Since the
peak velocity at first harmonic is higher, footfall analysis will be more concerned on
the first harmonic.

Figure 1: Average peak velocity response spectrum for different values of damping
Damping
Damping is the dissipation of mechanical energy in a vibrating system. Ratio of
actual damping, which is assumed to be viscous, to critical damping is usually
expressed in studying a vibrating system.
Generally, the vibration beyond 1.5 to 2 times the fundamental frequency is
removed by filtering and caused a damping ratio of 4 to 12 percent, which is
overestimated. With a better estimation, Fourier Spectrum of the response to
impact can be used to determine the damping ratio, which is around3 to 5 by using
this technique.

Footfall vibration
Harper et al. is the first one to investigate the footfall-induced force on the different
floor surface. A force plate is used to measure the vertical, lateral and longitudinal
force from a single footstep. Many researches such as Galbraith and Barton,
Blanchard et al. and Ohisson, Kerr have confirmed that the shape of the three
graphs is shown as in Figure1.They found that when the walking speed increases,

the step length and peak force magnitude will also increase. Different relationships
between the walking speed and the pacing frequency with certain controlled
parameter such as pacing frequency, speed or step length is tested by these
researchers. The similar observation is that there are two peaks in the vertical
downward force against time graph as shown in Figure1a).

Figure: Typical shapes of walking force in (a)vertical, (b) lateral and (c) longitudinal
direction (after Andriacchi et al.).
Before Lenzen (1962), the effect of steady-state vibration is only considered.
According to Lenzen, the transient vibration is the problem that causes humaninduced excitation to the floor with insufficient damping. He also factorized ReiherMeister curve, which is from steady-state vibration, by 10 from his research.
Wheeler improved the research by relating the different modes of human moving
and concluded that the peak amplitude, stride length and velocity will increase with
the increasing step frequency while the contact time is decreased.

A research considering two-step periodic walking by Andriacchi shows that

fundamental frequency of the lateral forces is two times lower than the vertical and
longitudinal forces as shown in Figure1.

Figure 1: Periodic walking time histories in vertical, lateral and longitudinal direction
with perfect periodicity assumption.
According to Matsumoto, the mean pacing rate is 2.0Hz and the standard deviation
is 0.173Hz. However, Leonard concluded that the range is between 1.7-2.3 Hz
which gained wide agreement. Moreover, Batchmann et al. categorizes the human
activities such as jumping, running and bouncing with different frequency. The
frequency categorized is shown in table1.
Human activities
Range Frequency (Hz)
Walking
1.6-2.4
Running
2.0-3.5
Jumping
1.8-3.4
Bouncing
1.5-3.0
Horizontal body swaying
0.4-0.7
Table1: Frequency range for different human activities.

Footfall vibration on Floor

For floor structure, the suspended floor is prone to annoying vertical vibration. In
the past, reinforced concrete does not encounter any vibration serviceability
problem as it is heavier and stiffer. However, the design structural currently has
longer span, less slab thickness and lighter. Petyt and Mirza (1972) contained an
excellent comparison result with regarding to the Finite Element Analysis and
laboratory test. However, the limitation of finite element modeling is about the
rigidity of connection and is hard. A low frequency floors is likely to be caused by
resonance than impulsive excitation caused by individual walking. (Eriksson,1994;
Wyatt,1989). The vibration serviceability on long-span and pre-stressed concrete
floor should be assessed through examination of vibration response rather than
manipulating its natural frequency.
Experimental modal analysis, operating deflection shapes (ODS) analysis and True
experimental modal analysis are several vibration analysis methods. In
experimental modal analysis, Pavic (1999) found that sensitive instrumentation and
complex signal processing technique are required to deal with environmental noise.
A much advanced method for predicting the natural frequency, mode shapes, and
modal damping ratio is proposed by Caetano and Cunha (1993), which consist of:
1. MDOF vibration parameter estimation using measured Frequency Response
Function. (FRF)
2. Finite Element(FE) modeling prior to the full-scale testing
3. FRF measurement using a manually operated instrumented sledge-hammer
4. FE model correlation with the experimental data gathered after modal
testing.
(Ewins, 1995; Maia et al., 1997)

Human perception of vibrations

According Tilly et al. (1994) report, 95% of people having a pacing rate of 1.5 to
2.5 steps per second. From a movement of group people, it is hard to duplicate
even a timing device is used as reported by Tuan and Saul (1986). Since footfall
vibration can be happening daily, we are required to study about the acceptance of
human to this vibration. After plenty of studies, Griffin (1996) introduced two

assessments, which are rating methods and weighting method. Weighting method
is a method that complex vibration is measured on differences in human response
to vibration at different frequency. For example, it is calculated Root Mean Square
value.