Lateral Pedestrian Excitation of Footbridges
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 10, Issue 1
Abstract
The phenomenon of synchronized lateral pedestrian excitation of footbridges has been highlighted in recent years by the widely publicized problems encountered with the London Millennium Footbridge. On opening day, during which a large number of pedestrians crossed the bridge, it exhibited alarming and unstable amplitudes of lateral vibration, which resulted in an 18 months closure and a 7 million dollar retrofit. Subsequent investigations revealed that the dynamic characteristics of the bridge did not differ significantly from those of other footbridges of similar span, and that the phenomenon of synchronized lateral excitation had recently been exhibited by several other bridges. An analysis of lateral pedestrian excitation of bridges, based on the governing differential equations of motion, is presented. Analytical models of lateral pedestrian loading are developed which can be used to assess both the subcritical response and the critical number of pedestrians likely to induce synchronized excitation. Theoretical predictions of synchronization are compared, and show close correlation, with the results of full-scale tests on the Millennium Footbridge.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 10 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 107 - 112
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2003
Accepted: Nov 4, 2003
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
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