HUMAN INDUCED VIBRATION PROPAGATION

ON A COMPOSITE FLOOR SYSTEM

By Omer F. Tigli
McNamara/Salvia, Inc. Consulting Engineers
Boston, MA

IMAC XXIX A Conference and Exposition on Structural Dynamics

VIBRATION SERVICEABILITY OF STRUCTURES

Structure
Input Response

VIBRATION PATH RECEIVER

SOURCE
COMPOSITE STEEL-CONCRETE FLOOR SYSTEMS

Input
LIVELY FLOOR
LIVELY FLOOR
 FEM of the FLOOR

• Composite floor is modeled by shell elements with an equivalent

thickness and an orthotropic material model
• Beams are modeled eccentrically wrt to the composite slab
• Beam-to-beam and beam-to-column connections are rigid
• Columns above and below the floor level are modeled
• Columns are pinned at their far ends
 f1=4.14 Hz f2=4.39 Hz

•F1=4.14 Hz
f3=4.44 Hz f4=4.74 Hz
 WALKING

after Kerr and Bishop (2001)

1
f step =
Tstep
after Galbraith and Barton (1970)
 WALKING FREQUENCY

Reference Walking Freq. Range (Hz)

AISC - DG 11 1.6 - 2.2

Arup's Method 1.0 - 2.8

Rainer et al. (1995) 1.6 - 2.4

Allen et al. (1987) 1.7 - 2.4

after Matsumoto et al (1972)

 FORCING FUNCTION FOR WALKING

• Both human feet produce exactly the same force

• The force is periodic with perfect repetition

after Kerr and Bishop (2001)

•Periodic functions can be represented by Fourier series

 FORCING FUNCTION FOR WALKING

after Kerr and Bishop (2001)

l
F (t ) = G + ∑ Gα m sin (2πmf s + φm )
m =1

Walking Fourier Coefficients

Reference Frequency Range
(Hz) α1 α2 α3 α4

AISC Guide 1.6 - 2.2 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.05

Arup's Method 1.0 - 2.8 0.41(fs-0.95) ≤ 0.56 0.069+0.0112fs 0.033+0.0192fs 0.013+0.026fs

 High vs Low Frequency Floors

If fn = fstep or m*fstep, resonance response (low-frequency floor), m=1, 2, 3, 4

fn > mmax*fstep, transient response (high-frequency floor)

M= 1110.6 slugs
K= 1.5784 E06 lb/ft
Low-Frequency Floor (LFF)
C= 2791.2 lb-s/ft
fn= 6 Hz

M
M= 1110.6 slugs
K= 4.3845 E06 lb/ft High-Frequency Floor (HFF)
C K C=1674.7 lb-s/ft
fn= 10 Hz
 LFF Response to Walking @ 1.5 Hz

3
2 10

1.5
2
10

magnitude (% of g)
1
acceleration (% of g)

0.5 1
10

0
0
-0.5 10

-1 -1
10
-1.5
-2
-2 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time (s) frequency (Hz)

Resonance response due to 4th Harmonics

 LFF Response to Walking @ 2.0 Hz

2 4
10

1.5
3
10
1
acceleration (% of g)

magnitude (% of g)
0.5 10
2

0
1
10
-0.5

-1 0
10
-1.5
-1
-2 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time (s) frequency (Hz)

Resonance response due to 3rd Harmonics

 LFF Response to Walking @ 2.4 Hz

2 3
10
1.5
2
1 10
acceleration (% of g)

magnitude (% of g)
0.5 1
10
0
0
-0.5 10

-1
-1
10
-1.5
-2
-2 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time (s) frequency (Hz)

No resonance realized
 HFF Response to Walking @ 2.0 Hz

2 2
10
1.5
1
1 10
acceleration (% of g)

magnitude (% of g)
0.5
0
0 10

-0.5
-1
-1 10

-1.5
-2
-2 10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
time (s) frequency (Hz)

No resonance realized
 DESIGN FOR WALKING (AISC GUIDE)

AISC guide defines the following function for the mth harmonic load

Fm = Gαm cos (2π mfstept)

G = walker’s weight taken as 157 lb for design
αm = dynamic coefficient for mth harmonic load
m = harmonic multiple of the step frequency
fstep = step frequency

Select the lowest m such that f n = m ⋅ f step (resonance)

fn = floor frequency
Rα mG
Calculate acceleration response apeak = ⋅ cos (2π mf step t )
ζM
R = reduction factor (0.5 for floor structures and 0.7 for footbridges)
M = modal mass
ζ = modal damping ratio
DESIGN FOR WALKING (ARUP’S METHOD)

Arup’s method requires the computation of all modes with frequencies up to 1.5 times the
fourth harmonic of the step frequency.

1 - Steady-state acceleration response of mode n to the mth harmonic force:

⎛ ⎞
2
⎜ ⎟
⎛ mf s ⎞ Pm ⎜ 1 ⎟
amn = μin μon ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ r⎜ 2 ⎟
⎝ f n ⎠ M n ⎜ ⎛ mf s ⎞ mf s ⎟
1 − ⎜
⎜ ⎜ f ⎟ ⎟ + 2ζ j⎟
⎝ ⎝ n ⎠ fn ⎠
μin , μon : modal amplitudes at the excitation and response coordinates of the nth mode,
fn : the natural frequency of the nth mode,
Pm : the mth harmonic force (αmG),
Mn : the modal mass of the nth mode,
j : the complex number
r : reduction factor
DESIGN FOR WALKING (ARUP’S METHOD)

L
r = 1 − e −2πζN where N = 0.55m
l

L : Span length of the structural bay the walker crossing,

l : The stride length of the walker

2 – Floor response caused by each harmonic:

all modes
am = ∑a
n =1
mn

3 – Total floor response caused by all harmonics:

a floor = SRSS am ( l
m =1
)
VIBRATION CRITERIA (AISC – Guide)
PROBLEMATIC FLOOR AREA

AISC - Guide
fn= 4.39 Hz
Mn= 1110.6 slugs
fs=2.2 Hz, α=0.2
ζ= 2%, R=0.5
apeak=2.2 % of g

Arup’s Method

80 modes considered
L=45 ft, l=3ft
ζ= 2% for all modes
apeak=0.74 % of g
 VIBRATION PROPAGATION

f1=4.14 Hz f2=4.39 Hz

f3=4.44 Hz f4=4.74 Hz

Arup’s Method Walking Meas. Walking Frequencies

Path Loc. 2.1 Hz 2.2 Hz 2.3 Hz
80 modes, L=45 ft, l=3ft
A1 0.17 0.26 0.19
ζ= 2% for all modes W2 A2 0.18 0.20 0.16
apeak=0.27 % of g (walking along W2) A3 0.19 0.15 0.16
WALKING TESTS

Walking Measurement Walking Frequencies

Path Loc. 2.1 Hz 2.2 Hz 2.3 Hz
A1 0.42 0.50 0.71
W1 A2 0.56 0.63 0.76
A3 0.44 0.44 0.51
B1 0.35 0.60 0.43
W1 B2 0.46 0.58 0.46
B3 0.34 0.64 0.48
A1 0.17 0.26 0.19
W2 A2 0.18 0.20 0.16
A3 0.19 0.15 0.16

Walking Measurement Walking Frequencies

Path Loc. 1.93 Hz 2.0 Hz 2.3 Hz
C1 0.40 0.37 0.51
W2 C2 0.45 0.35 0.51
C3 0.35 0.33 0.46
IMPACT TESTS
 CONCLUSIONS

1. Both AISC guide and the Arup’s method concluded that acceleratin levels at the
problem area were higher than the allowable limit.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION……
ANY QUESTIONS?