Active Control of Concert-Induced Vibrations

Large floor and stadium structures can be subjected to onerous dynamic loadings during concert events, which might result in excessive levels of vibration. These could result in adverse comments and concern from occupants of the structure and even raise concerns regarding damage caused by fatigue. Active control is a technology with potential applications for control of floor vibrations, which has previously been used to control relatively low level vibrations in floor structures caused by small numbers of pedestrians. This paper presents an application of the technology to much higher levels of vibrations caused by crowds of people jumping during concert events. A number of challenges arise related to the amount of force required and maintenance of control of relatively large inertial masses and potential solutions are presented in this work. Results are given that show the performance of such a system under realistic crowd loading.