Response Prediction to Walking-Induced Vibrations of a Long-Span Timber Floor
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
Long-span timber floors are susceptible to annoying floor vibrations caused by human activities, which, in many cases, govern the timber floor design. Consequently, a reliable prediction of floor vibration responses under human activities, which relies on appropriate walking load models, can be crucial in the design to keep timber floors remaining competitive in the commercial building market. Much of the current design guidance for timber floor vibrations have been established from short-span floors in a residential context, and as a result, many designers refer to established design methods formulated for use with concrete and steel-framed buildings. These guidelines predict the floor response based on a deterministic single-person walking load model that differs depending on the classification of the floor as either a high- or low-frequency floor, which are assumed as a transient or resonant floor response, respectively. Recent advances in modeling human walking have been made, including a single footfall trace load that avoids the need to classify the floor, as well as load models that incorporate a probabilistic approach. To date, an investigation on different walking load models to predict the vibration response of long-span timber floors has not been undertaken, partially due to the fact that there are limited examples in practice. This paper presents the results of a recently completed state-of-the-art research project involving full-scale testing of long-span timber floors and the development of novel numerical models to investigate the applicability of the deterministic walking load model used in current floor vibration design guides, as well as two innovative single-person walking load models for predicting the floor responses of a single long-span timber cassette floor. The numerical investigation was carried out with a finite-element model calibrated with experimentally obtained modal properties. The comparison between the predicted responses and the measured walking test results leads to the recommendation that a selection of an appropriate load model plays a crucial role in accurately and reliably predicting the floor response of a long-span timber cassette floor. Finally, the research undergirding this paper forms an essential basis for understanding the dynamic behavior of long-span timber floors for use in medium-rise timber buildings.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
The following code generated or used during the study is available in a repository online in accordance with funder data retention policies:
•
The MATLAB code for LM3 advanced was based on the MATLAB code presented in Živanović (2006), entitled “MHMM.m.”
The following data used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request:
•
Accelerometer test data for the floor set-up as presented in this study for both impact hammer and walking tests.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Forest and Wood Products Australia grant for the Long-Span Timber Floors and Framing Systems for Commercial Buildings project. Further, the authors are thankful for the assistance of Professor Yutaka Yokoyama from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Jinping Wang from Tongji University for sharing their knowledge and literature regarding the numerical application of human walking load models.
References
Al-foqaha, A. A., W. F. Cofer, and K. J. Fridley. 1999. “Vibration design criterion for wood floors exposed to normal human activities.” J. Struct. Eng. 125 (12): 1401–1406. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1999)125:12(1401).
Alvis, S. R. 2001. An experimental and analytical investigation of floor vibrations. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
ANSYS Inc. 2017. ANSYS DesignXplorer user’s guide. Canonsburg, PA: ANSYS Inc.
Architectural Institute of Japan. 2018. Standard for the evaluation of habitability to building vibration. Tokyo: Architectural Institute of Japan.
Bachmann, H., A. J. Pretlove, and H. Rainer. 1995. “Dynamic forces from rhythmical human body motions.” In Vibration problems in structures: Practical guidelines, 185–190. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser Verlag.
Brownjohn, J., V. Racic, and J. Chen. 2016. “Universal response spectrum procedure for predicting walking-induced floor vibration.” In Vol. 70–71 of Mechanical systems and signal processing, 741–755. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.
Brownjohn, J. M., A. Pavic, and P. Omenzetter. 2004. “A spectral density approach for modelling continuous vertical forces on pedestrian structures due to walking.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 31 (1): 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1139/l03-072.
Brownjohn, J. M. W., and C. J. Middleton. 2008. “Procedures for vibration serviceability assessment of high-frequency floors.” Eng. Struct. 30 (6): 1548–1559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.10.006.
BSI (British Standards Institution). 2002. Eurocode—Basis of structural design. BS EN 1990:2002. London: BSI.
Buchanan, A. 2007. Timber design guide. Wellington, NZ: New Zealand Timber Industry Federation.
Carter Holt Harvey. 2015. “hyJOIST options range design guide.” Accessed March 4, 2019. chhwoodproducts.com.au/hyjoist.
CEN (European Committee for Standardisation). 2004. Eurocode 5: Design of timber structures—Part 1-1: General common rules and rules for buildings. Brussels, Belgium: CEN.
Chang, W., T. Goldsmith, and R. Harris. 2018. “A new design method for timber floors—Peak acceleration approach.” In Proc., Int. Network on Timber Engineering Research (INTER)—Meeting 51. Karlsruhe, Germany: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Chen, J., G. Ding, and S. Zivanovic. 2019. “Stochastic single footfall trace model for pedestrian walking load.” Int. J. Struct. Stab. Dyn. 19 (3): 1950029. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219455419500299.
Crews, K. I. 2002. Behaviour and critical limit states of transversely laminated timber cellular bridge decks. Sydney, Australia: Univ. of Technology Sydney.
Crews, K. I. 2016. “Nonconventional timber construction.” In Nonconventional and vernacular construction materials—Characterisation, properties and applications, edited by K. A. Harries and B. Sharma, 335–363. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.
Dolan, J. D., T. M. Murray, J. R. Johnson, D. Runte, and B. C. Shue. 1999. “Preventing annoying wood floor vibrations.” J. Struct. Eng. 125 (1): 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1999)125:1(19).
Downing, D. J., R. H. Gardner, and F. O. Hoffman. 1985. “An examination of response-surface methodologies for uncertainty analysis in assessment models.” Technometrics 27 (2): 151–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1985.10488032.
Ellis, B. R. 2000. “On the response of long-span floors to walking loads generated by individuals and crowds.” Struct. Engineer 78 (10): 17–25.
Feldmann, M., et al. 2008. Human-induced vibration of steel structures. Brussels, Belgium: European Commission.
Glisovic, I., and B. Stevanovic. 2010. “Vibrational behavior of timber floors.” In Proc., World Conf. on Timber Engineering. Trentino, Italy: Trees and Timber Institute, National Research Council.
Green, D. W., J. E. Winandy, and D. E. Kretschmann. 2010. “Mechanical properties of wood.” In Wood handbook—Wood as an engineering material. Madison, WI: Forest Products Laboratory.
Hamby, D. M. 1994. “A review of techniques for parameter sensitivity analysis of environmental models.” Environ. Monit. Assess. 32 (2): 135–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00547132.
Hamm, P., A. Richter, and S. Winter. 2010. “Floor vibrations–New results.” In Proc., 11th World Conf. on Timber Engineering. Trentino, Italy: Trees and Timber Institute, National Research Council.
Hassan, O. A. B., and U. A. Girhammar. 2013. “Assessment of footfall-induced vibrations in timber and lightweight composite floors.” Int. J. Struct. Stab. Dyn. 13 (02): 1350015. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219455413500156.
Hu, L., and Y.-H. Chui. 2004. “Development of a design method to control vibrations induced by normal walking action in wood-based floors.” In Proc., 8th World Conf. on Timber Engineering. Lahti, Finland: Finnish Association of Civil Engineers RIL.
ISO. 1997. Mechanical vibration and shock—Evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration—Part 1: General requirements. ISO 2631-1:1997. Geneva: ISO.
Jacobs, N. J., and J. Skorecki. 1972. “Analysis of the vertical component of force.” J. Biomech. 5 (1): 11–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9290(72)90016-4.
John, S., K. Mulligan, N. Perez, S. Love, I. Page, and Canterbury University. 2011. Cost, time and environmental impacts of the construction of the new NMIT Arts and Media building. Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Kalkert, R. E., J. D. Dolan, and F. E. Woeste. 1993. “The current status of analysis and design for annoying wooden floor vibrations.” Wood Fiber Sci. 25 (3): 305–314.
Kerr, S. C. 1998. Human induced loading on staircases. London: Univ. College London.
KLH Massivholz GmbH. 2014. Rib elements. Teufenbach-Katsch, Austria: KLH Massivholz GmbH.
Mohammed, A. S., A. Pavic, and V. Racic. 2018. “Improved model for human induced vibrations of high-frequency floors.” Eng. Struct. 168 (Aug): 950–966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.04.093.
Mohr, B. 1999. Floor vibrations. Graz, Austria: International Council for Building Research Studies and Documentation.
Murray, T. M., D. E. Allen, E. E. Ungar, and D. B. Davis. 2016. Steel Design Guide 11 Vibrations of steel-framed structural systems due to human activity. 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: American Institute of Steel Construction.
NelsonPine LVL. 2016. Specific engineering design guide. Nelson, NZ: NelsonPine LVL.
Ohlsson, S. V. 1988a. Springiness and human-induced floor vibrations: A design guide. Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Council for Building Research.
Ohlsson, S. V. 1988b. “Stiffness characteristics of wood-joist floors.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Timber Engineering. Madison, WI: Forest Products Research Society.
Ohlsson, S. V. 1991. “Serviceability criteria—Especially floor vibration criteria.” In Proc., Int. Timber Engineering Conf., 1.58–1.65. London: Timber Research and Development Association.
Onysko, D. M., L. J. Hu, E. D. Jones, and B. Di Lenardo. 2000. “Serviceability design of residential wood framed floors in Canada.” In Proc., World Conf. on Timber Engineering, 1–8. Vancouver, BC: National Research Council Canada.
Pachi, A., and T. Ji. 2005. “Frequency and velocity of people walking.” Struct. Eng. 83 (3): 36–40.
Pavic, A., Z. Miskovic, and P. Reynolds. 2007. “Modal testing and finite-element model updating of a lively open-plan composite building floor.” J. Struct. Eng. 133 (4): 550–558. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2007)133:4(550).
Pavic, A., P. Reynolds, S. Prichard, and M. Lovell. 2003. “Evaluation of mathematical models for predicting walking-induced vibrations of high-frequency floors.” Int. J. Struct. Stab. Dyn. 03 (01): 107–130. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219455403000756.
Racic, V., and J. M. W. Brownjohn. 2011. “Stochastic model of near-periodic vertical loads due to humans walking.” In Vol. 25 of Advanced engineering informatics, 259–275. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.
Rainer, J. H., G. Pernica, and D. E. Allen. 1988. “Dynamic loading and response of footbridges.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 15 (1): 66–71.
Sahnaci, C., and M. Kasperski. 2005. “Random loads induced by walking.” In Proc., 6th European Conf. on Structural Dynamics (EURODYN), 441–446. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Millpress.
Simon, S. R., I. L. Paul, J. Mansour, M. Munro, P. J. Abernethy, and E. L. Radin. 1981. “Peak dynamic force in human gait.” J. Biomech. 14 (12): 817–822. https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9290(81)90009-9.
Skullestad, J. L., R. A. Bohne, and J. Lohne. 2016. “High-rise timber buildings as a climate change mitigation measure—A comparative LCA of structural system alternatives.” Energy Procedia 96 (1876): 112–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2016.09.112.
Smith, A. L., S. J. Hicks, and P. J. Devine. 2009. Design of floors for vibration: A new approach. Ascot, UK: Steel Construction Institute.
Smith, I., and Y. H. Chui. 1988. “Design of light-weight wooden floors to avoid human discomfort.” Can. J. Civ. Eng. 15 (2): 254–262. https://doi.org/10.1139/l88-033.
Standards Australia. 2006. Structural laminated veneer lumber (LVL)-determination of structural properties-test methods. Sydney, Australia: Standards Australia.
Standards Australia. 2010. Characterization of structural timber—Part 1: Test methods. AS/NZS 4063.1:2010. Sydney, Australia: Standards Australia.
Toratti, T., and A. Talja. 2006. “Classification of human induced floor vibrations.” Build. Acoust. 13 (3): 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1260/135101006778605370.
Willford, M., P. Young, and C. Field. 2006. “Improved methodologies for the prediction of footfall-induced vibration.” In Building integration solutions, edited by M. Ettouney, 1–15. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Willford, M. R., and P. Young. 2006. A design guide for footfall induced vibration of structures. CCIP-016. Surrey, UK: Concrete Society.
Zabihi, Z. 2014. Investigation of a proposed long span timber floor for non-residential applications. Sydney, Australia: Univ. of Technology Sydney.
Živanović, S. 2006. Probability-based estimation of vibration for pedestrian structures due to walking. Sheffield, UK: Univ. of Sheffield.
Živanović, S. 2015. “Modelling human actions on lightweight structures: Experimental and numerical developments.” In Vol. 24 of Proc., MATEC Web of Conf. Les Ulis, France: EDP Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20152401005.
Živanović, S., and A. Pavić. 2009. “Probabilistic modeling of walking excitation for building floors.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 23 (3): 132–143. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000005.
Živanović, S., A. Pavic, and P. Reynolds. 2007a. “Finite element modelling and updating of a lively footbridge: The complete process.” J. Sound Vib. 301 (1–2): 126–145.
Živanović, S., A. Pavic, and P. Reynolds. 2007b. “Probability-based prediction of multi-mode vibration response to walking excitation.” Eng. Struct. 29 (6): 942–954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2006.07.004.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 2 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 1, 2020
Accepted: Aug 23, 2020
Published online: Nov 28, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 28, 2021
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.