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Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 108
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING
Edited by: J. Kruis, Y. Tsompanakis and B.H.V. Topping
Paper 41

Vibration Serviceability Assessment of Footbridges under Pedestrian Induced Excitation Based on Biodynamic Loading Models

G.L. Debona1 and J.G. Santos da Silva2

1Civil Engineering Post-graduate Programme, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2Structural Engineering Department, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
G.L. Debona, J.G. Santos da Silva, "Vibration Serviceability Assessment of Footbridges under Pedestrian Induced Excitation Based on Biodynamic Loading Models", in J. Kruis, Y. Tsompanakis, B.H.V. Topping, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 41, 2015. doi:10.4203/ccp.108.41
Keywords: footbridges, structural dynamics, dynamic analysis, biodynamic models, human comfort, excessive vibrations, ANSYS.

Summary
A number of papers related to the vibration serviceability assessment of footbridges based on the modelling of the pedestrian-structure interaction using biodynamic models have been published. Therefore, this paper contributes to this scenario by developing a more realistic modelling strategy of the pedestrian-footbridge system taking into account the dynamic characteristics of the pedestrians (mass, stiffness and damping), when crossing the footbridge. In this way, the investigated structural model is related to an existing footbridge located in the campus of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The structural system is based on an internal reinforced concrete footbridge spanning 24.4 m, constructed with concrete beams and slabs, and being currently used as a pedestrian crossing. The numerical model adopted the usual mesh refinement techniques present in finite element simulations, based on the use of ANSYS program. This numerical model enabled a complete dynamic evaluation of the footbridge especially in terms of human comfort and its associated vibration serviceability limit states. Based on an extensive parametric analysis considering the biodynamic dynamic loading models, the structural system dynamic response, was obtained and compared to the limiting values proposed by several authors and design standards.

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