Floor Vibration in Lightweight Cold-Formed Steel Framing

Abstract

Floor vibration due to walking as a serviceability concern has not been well addressed in design and construction of lightweight floors. The high strength and stiffness of steel provide the advantage of achieving longer floor spans. However, floors with longer span and lighter weight are likely to be susceptible to annoying vibrations induced by normal human activity such as walking. Designing a lightweight floor to control these annoying vibrations can be difficult due to lack of appropriate design guidelines. Presented in this paper is a multi-phase study on the vibration performance of cold-formed steel floors performed at the University of Waterloo. Full-scale floor systems with different framing details were constructed and tested in both laboratory and in situ conditions. The floor framing details that enhance the floor performance against vibrations are discussed. The results of the tests show that cold-formed steel floor systems with appropriate design and construction details can perform well against floor vibration due to human walking.