Abstract
This research aims to perform an experimental and numerical assessment of an existing pedestrian footbridge located in the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Brazil. The structural system is based on an internal reinforced concrete footbridge spanning 24.5m, constituted by concrete beams and slabs and being currently used for pedestrian crossing. The modal testing of the structure was performed by dynamic monitoring through accelerometers installed on the structure as well as by a vibrometer device based on Laser Doppler Vibrometry using the SIMO and SISO acquisition techniques, respectively. Then, these experimental results were calibrated with a numerical model by the use of finite element method (FEM) through the ANSYS program. Afterwards, a forced vibration analysis was performed on the structure based on human-induced loads considering two control groups: the first one is intended to excite the investigated footbridge to cause resonance motion with a controlled step frequency and the second one is related to freely random people crossing the footbridge as it occurs normally during its real life. Thus, the structural system dynamic response in terms of peak accelerations values were evaluated and compared to the current human comfort criteria.
Highlights
The human comfort issue of civil structures has been gaining important relevance in the last decade by several researchers [1,2,3,4,5]
The experimental modal analysis of the studied footbridge was conducted by dynamic monitoring through accelerometers installed on the structure as well as by a vibrometer device based on a Laser Doppler Vibrometry methodology
This work analysed experimentally and numerically the dynamic 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
The human comfort issue of civil structures has been gaining important relevance in the last decade by several researchers [1,2,3,4,5]. Regarding the footbridges concern, it has been noticed that most of the as built footbridges natural frequencies lie in the same range of the human frequency step and its upper harmonics. This fact may lead these structures to a resonant state motion. The lowering of their stiffness, modal mass and damping as consequence of the current market design trends have been contributing to the increase of the human discomfort of the pedestrians [5]. The human comfort of the investigated footbridge was evaluated according to the current design criteria [6,7,8]
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