Guidelines to Minimize Floor Vibrations from Building Occupants
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 120, Issue 2
Abstract
One major serviceability consideration in modern buildings is excessive floor vibrations due to occupant activities. Floor vibrations are becoming a more important design consideration with the use of high‐strength, light‐weight materials in building structures, longer floor spans, and more flexible framing systems. Floor systems in shopping malls, pedestrian walkways and concourses, and gymnasiums are relatively light and susceptible to vibration problems. Methods for accurate prediction of these vibrations and evaluation of floor systems are not readily available to the design community. An investigation is made into the characteristics of crowd‐induced loads. These characteristics include the density of the crowd, randomness of crowd movement, crowd activity, and temporal interaction between individuals. Analytical procedures are developed to determine the influence of each load characteristic on the dynamic response of floor systems. Design guidelines are developed for floors in malls, gymnasiums, and walkways subject to crowd‐induced loads.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
ABAQUS user's manual, version 4.8. (1989). Hibbit, Karlsson, and Sorensen, Inc., Providence, R.I.
2.
Allen, D. E. (1990). “Floor vibrations from aerobics.” Can. J. Civ. Engrg., 17(5), 771–779.
3.
Allen, D. E., Rainer, J. H., and Pernica, G. (1985). “Vibration criteria for assembly occupancies.” Can. J. Civ. Engrg., 12(3), 617–623.
4.
American national standard minimum design loads for buildings and other structures; ANSI A58.1. (1982). Am. Nat. Standards Inst., New York, N.Y.
5.
Bachmann, H. (1992). “Case studies of structures with man‐induced vibrations.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 118(3), 631–647.
6.
Bachmann, H., and Ammann, W. (1987). Vibrations in structures. IABSE, Zurich, Switzerland.
7.
Clough, R. W., and Penzien, J. (1975). Dynamic of structures. McGraw‐Hill, New York, N.Y.
8.
Ebrahimpour, A., and Sack, R. L. (1992). “Design live loads for coherent crowd harmonic movements.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 110(2), 401–418.
9.
Ebrahimpour, A., and Sack, R. L. (1988). “Crowd‐induced dynamic loads.” Proc., Symp./Workshop on Serviceability of Buildings, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 451–464.
10.
Ellingwood, B., and Tallin, A. (1984). “Structural serviceability: floor vibration.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 110(2), 401–418.
11.
Eriksson, P., and Ohlsson, S. V. (1988). “Dynamic footfall loading from groups of walking people.” Proc., Symp./Workshop on Serviceability of Buildings, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 497–511.
12.
Hatfield, F. J. (1992). “Design chart for vibration of office and residential floors.” Engrg. J., 29(4), 141–144.
13.
Manual of steel construction. (1989). 9th Ed., Am. Inst. of Steel Constr., Chicago, Ill.
14.
Mouring, S. E. (1992). “Dynamic response of floor systems to building occupant activities,” PhD thesis, The Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md.
15.
Murray, T. M. (1991). “Building floor vibrations.” Engrg. J., 28(3), 102–109.
16.
Murray, T. M. (1981). “Acceptability criterion for occupant‐induced floor vibrations.” Engrg. J., 18(1), 62–70.
17.
Pernica, G., and Allen, D. E. (1982). “Floor vibration measurements in a shopping centre.” Can. J. Civ. Engrg., 9(2), 149–155.
18.
Tuan, C. Y., and Saul, W. E. (1985). “Loads due to spectator movements.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 111(2), 418–434.
19.
Wheeler, J. E. (1982). “Prediction and control of pedestrian‐induced vibrations of footbridges.” J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 108(9), 2045–2065.
20.
Yang, C. Y. (1986). Random vibration of structures. John Wiley and Sons, New York, N.Y.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 11, 1992
Published online: Feb 1, 1994
Published in print: Feb 1994
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.