%0 Journal Article
%T Vibration Characteristics of Composite Footbridges under Various Human Running Loads
%A Faraz Sadeghi
%A Ahmad Kueh
%A Ali Bagheri Fard
%A Nasim Aghili
%J ISRN Civil Engineering
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/817384
%X Various types of human running dynamic loads are numerically studied and compared to assess vibration characteristics of the light and slender composite footbridges. Running, which is a common human activity, has been categorized with respect to its intensity into jogging, normal running, and sprinting. To explore the footbridge¡¯s performance, the vibration responses are investigated through a series of analyses in terms of the peak accelerations and displacements. In the model verification, the acquired first natural frequency of structure has shown good agreement with the value reported in the literature. The structural performance of the slender composite footbridge is then evaluated with regard to the serviceability requirement given by the current design standards. It is generally found that the maximum acceleration of the composite footbridge due to the excitation of one person running varies under different running types because of diversities in the velocity and the step frequency. Furthermore, it is shown that the investigated structure provides sufficient human comfort against vibrations for all the examined three types of running loads. 1. Introduction Lightweight and slender footbridges as advanced structures have been highly constructed for various engineering purposes in the recent years. Although from the structural point of view, footbridges have been properly designed according to existing construction and design codes, over the past few years, better accuracy analyses are needed for sophisticated structures [1]. It has been scientifically shown that in slender and light structures, such as footbridges, there is a coincidence between the domains of the natural frequencies and the frequencies of dynamic loads coming from the human induced activities such as walking, dancing, running, and jumping [2, 3]. Such phenomenon has commonly associated with the existence of resonance which as a result causes disastrous damage to the structure. Since the procedure of footbridges analysis due to the human induced loads like people running is weakly captured by point of experimental evidence [1], because of various undetermined interlinked effects, in this study we are aiming to generate a fundamental research knowledge on the vibration characteristics of the slender composite footbridge structures subject to different types of human running such as jogging, standard running, and sprinting to assess the serviceability requirements of such structures against the current design codes. Footbridges vibration responses are considered through the analyses
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.civil.engineering/2013/817384/