Abstract
Abstract This research work aims to investigate the dynamic structural behaviour and assess the human comfort of footbridges, when subjected to pedestrian walking, based on experimental tests and tuning of finite element model. Therefore, the investigated structure is associated to a real pedestrian footbridge, spanning 24.4m, located at the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Initially, an experimental modal testing was conducted using two data acquisition strategies. After that the experimental forced vibration tests were performed on the footbridge, considering the pedestrians walking with different step frequencies. In sequence of the study, a finite element model was developed based on the ANSYS computational program. The experimental footbridge tests were used for the calibration of results on the numerical model. Finally, a human comfort assessment was performed, based on the comparisons between the results (peak accelerations), of the dynamic experimental monitoring and the recommendations provided by design guides SÉTRA, HIVOSS and AISC.
Highlights
Pedestrian footbridges are more and more becoming the modern landmarks of urban areas
The investigated structure is associated to a real pedestrian footbridge, spanning 24.4m, located at the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This research work analysed experimentally and numerically the dynamic structural behaviour of an internal reinforced concrete pedestrian footbridge spanning 24.4m, constituted by concrete beams and slabs and being currently used for pedestrian crossing located in the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil
Summary
Pedestrian footbridges are more and more becoming the modern landmarks of urban areas. Baumann and Bachmann [10] reported that dynamic loading factors were 10% smaller on flexible surfaces when compared to rigid surfaces This fact was confirmed by Pimentel [11], who observed a reduction in the natural frequency of the footbridge when subjected to pedestrian walking. Ebrahimpour and Sack [13] concluded that dynamic loading factors decrease as the number of people increases over the structure Another relevant aspect that has been investigated is related to the differences in the pedestrian footbridges’ natural frequency values when occupied by a crowd of people [14-15]. Considering the increasing number of reported excessive vibration problems in pedestrian structures [16-17], this research study aims to develop an analysis methodology to investigate the dynamic structural behaviour of footbridges when subjected to the walking of pedestrians. The test structure is related to an existing pedestrian footbridge, based on an internal reinforced concrete footbridge, spanning 24.4 m, constituted by concrete beams and slabs and currently being used for pedestrian crossing, located on the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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