Minimum thickness of solid concrete floor slab with column line beams to avoid walking vibration discomfort

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the minimum slab thickness of reinforced concrete (RC) solid floor slab with column‐line beams to minimize vibration discomfort when subjected to human walking‐induced excitation. An elastic time history finite element analysis methodology has been adopted for the study. An intermediate floor panel of a multistory building has been modeled using appropriate material properties, element dimensioning and stiffness modifiers. The developed model was subjected to a walking excitation using a time history function. The finite element modeling and time history analysis scheme has been validated against experimental study described in the design guide by Fanella and Mota. The study was then focused on studying the walking‐induced vibration characteristics of the floor slab using the span length and slab thickness as the study parameters. The acceleration data obtained for the central point of the slab was subjected to fast fourier transform (FFT) to convert the response to the frequency domain. Comparisons were then made to obtain the minimum slab thickness for each span length using both frequency and acceleration criteria following ACI serviceability limit and the design guide limit by Fanella and Mota. It was observed that a combination of the two limits were needed to determine the minimum slab thickness. The findings will help engineers to design slabs with adequate thickness to minimize human walking‐induced vibration related discomfort.