DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF A FOOTBRIDGE SUBJECTED TO PEDESTRIAN

INDUCED VIBRATIONS.

Stronger materials offering high strength to weight ratio, refined design methodologies and
sophisticated softwares are creating lighter (flexible) structures that can then be subject to
vibrations from everyday use, such as the human movements or vibrating machinery. On the
foregoing, footfall vibration checks to ensure the comfort of the occupants is paramount in
design phase. Also, hospitals and laboratories have their stringent requirements against these
undesirable vibrations to ensure safety during operations or the accuracy of scientific
equipments. Therefore footbridges, office floors etc. which are susceptible to human induced
vibrations need to undergo a complete dynamic design to limit these undesirable vibrations
within specified limits.
A representative suspension footbridge is analysed under different footfall ranges. A
parametric study on dynamic behaviour of the footbridge with varying percentage of bridge
occupancy is performed, aiming at the intensity of vibrations for extremely crowded
situations. The results indicate the acceptance criteria should encompass both structural and
pedestrian perspectives. It is also observed that with the increase in the human presence on
the structure, the damping potential of the vibrating system increased hence mitigating the
vibration response of the footbridge.