Evaluation of Floor Vibrations Induced by Walking Barefoot in Heavyweight Buildings

Abstract

Floor vibrations induced by humans walking barefoot were investigated in heavyweight buildings. Six floating floors with different floor structures and thick resilient isolators were built in laboratories with the same dimensions and boundary conditions. Subjective tests were performed to assess the vibration serviceability of the floor structures. In the first test, subjects were asked to walk across a floor and then rate the intensity of the vibrations, and the acceptability and serviceability of the floors. In the second test, subjects were seated on a chair in the middle of the floor and asked to rate the floor vibrations when a walker passed by the subjects. Floor vibrations induced by human walking were analysed using peak acceleration, root-mean-square (r.m.s.) acceleration, and the vibration dose value (VDV), with four frequency weighting functions (Wb , Wk , Wg, and Wm ). Significant differences in the measured floor vibrations were found across the floor structures with greater floor vibration leading to greater perceived vibration intensity, lower acceptability, and lower serviceability. The VDV was correlated with perceptions of floor vibration when used with all four frequency weighting functions. The impact noise induced by walking did not influence subjective evaluations of floor vibration. A heavy/soft impact source (a standard impact source) provided a useful prediction of differences between the perception of the vibration on different floors.