Lateral Walking-Induced Forces on Footbridges
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 12, Issue 6
Abstract
In the last several years many cases of large amplitude horizontal vibrations of footbridges have been observed, due to dynamic interaction between the walkers and the footbridge, which may occur when some conditions on the bridge mass, frequency and damping, as well as on the crowd density are met. Such interaction is an intriguing phenomenon, as it is associated with the dynamics of a complex system made of a structure and a number of walkers, the dynamics of the latter being governed by physiology and psychology. Provided this complexity, in this paper a preliminary step is made toward the modeling of the interaction forces exerted by a crowd to a footbridge. The results of an experimental investigation of the lateral forces exerted by one walker to a fixed floor are presented, and used to calibrate a deterministic and stochastic lateral loading models of footbridges, to be used in the case in which no interaction takes place. The results presented are also the background data for more sophisticated dynamic models allowing for bridge-crowd interaction.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to express their gratitude to Pasquale Furfari, M.D., who kindly allowed the calibration of the Treadmill Ergometer Device through tests carried out on the force platform at the Physiatry Unit of the Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli Hospital of Reggio Calabria.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 12 • Issue 6 • November 2007
Pages: 677 - 688
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 17, 2006
Accepted: Nov 15, 2006
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
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