Funded by the National R&D&I Plan. Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness – Government of Spain

Abstract: Driven by desirable cost reduction, design efficiency and aesthetic appeal, many architectural and civil engineering projects are turning to lightweight, long-span structural designs that are significantly more flexible than those of bygone eras. As a consequence of this evolution, compliance with serviceability criteria may start to be dimensionally sensitive (more demanding than traditional strength requirements and other ultimate limit states). Thus, in modern construction, consideration of the effects of structural flexibility and user perception of vibrations are becoming more important design aspects. In general, walkways, long-span slabs, staircases, large shopping malls and sports facilities are flexible structures where dynamic interaction with users must be treated seriously. Modeling human action is a key point for the dynamic analysis of these types of structures. There are differences between active and passive people and the dynamic properties (mass, stiffness and damping) of the resulting structure, including its occupants, must be accurately characterized. Humans add not only forces, but also mass and damping. Furthermore, the location of the forces and masses varies with the movement of the active users. Special but simplified numerical techniques must be developed to take into account, in a realistic and computationally feasible way, the entire physical problem involved. Furthermore, in this type of slender and vibration-prone structures, it is common, when discomfort due to vibrations is detected, to install special control devices. The incorporation of these devices into the computational structural model is vital for the evaluation of its suitability for pedestrian use, together with the rest of the intervening factors. The main objective of the research project is to improve the most recent models of human/structure interaction through the comparison of the numerical results with real in-service measurements for the different occupancy levels of the structures under study. The structural model, both for floors and walkways, is complicated by the installation of control devices in order to understand the response under human action and develop a simplified approach to the evaluation of their fitness for use (ELSV).