FLOOR VIBRATIONS - BASICS

STATICS vs DYNAMICS
(Structural Engineer vs Vibration Engineer)
P(t)

E, I

L
6 EI
L2

12 EI
L3

6 EI
L2

c
P

4 EI
L

2
L
2 EI

12 EI
L3

Ku P u K 1P

L3

3EI

PL3
L2
P

2 EI 3EI

2
L 0 PL

EI
2 EI

6 EI
L2

6 EI
L2

mvv

4 EI
L

mv

cvv

mv

( t ) Cu (t ) Ku (t ) P(t )
Mu
Additional terms:
time
mass
damping

cv

cv

KEY ASPECTS

Structure
Input
VIBRATION
SOURCE

Response
PATH

RECEIVER

SOURCE - PATH - RECEIVER

Receiver
Vibration
Source

Health Club with RC beams

After Allen, 1990

Unacceptable vibrations
at the Mezzanine Level
associated with a
frequency of 5 Hz

SOURCE - PATH - RECEIVER

Walking at 2.35 Hz (141 steps/min)

after Hanagan, 2005

SOURCE - PATH - RECEIVER

Unacceptable vibrations
in the offices near the
corners of the upper
stories

Top floor of a 26-story RC office building

After Allen, 1990

Outer part of
building corners
vibration up and
down

Measurements also
showed that lowest
slab frequency was
10 Hz

Measurements showed
that vibrations are
associated with a
resonance @ 4.2 Hz

KEY ASPECTS

Structure
Input

SOURCE

Response
PATH

RECEIVER

P(t)
& Vibration Criteria

VIBRATION SOURCES
LOADING FUNCTION:
a) Harmonic (rotating machinery)

b) Periodic-Rhythmic (dancing, aerobics)

c) Transient (walking, running)

d) Impulsive (single jumps, heel-drop impacts)

WALKING

WALKING

after Kerr and Bishop (2001)

st e

f step
after Galbraith and Barton (1970)

1
Tstep

WALKING FREQUENCY

after Matsumoto et al (1972)

FORCING FUNCTION FOR WALKING

Both human feet produce exactly the same force
The force is periodic with perfect repetition

Periodic functions can be represented by Fourier series

FOURIER SERIES (BACKGROUND INFO)

sum

1st harmonic

sum

3rd harmonic

2nd harmonic

sum

4th harmonic

FORCING FUNCTION FOR WALKING

The mth harmonic load is defined by

= walkers weight

m = Fourier coefficient for mth harmonic load

m = harmonic multiple of the step frequency
fs

= step frequency

Final loading function is determined after summing each harmonic

l

F t G G m sin 2mf s m
m 1

KEY ASPECTS

Structure
Input

SOURCE

Response
PATH

RECEIVER

P(t)
& Vibration Criteria

PATH STRUCTURE
Single DOF Systems

Multi DOF Systems

SDOF STEMS
m : Mass of the system (k-s2/in)
Path

k : Stiffness of the system (k/in)

c : Damping of the system (k-s/in)

m u t c u t k u t F t
Acceleration

Velocity

Receiver

Displacement

Vibration
Source

SDOF SYSTEMS
m : Mass of the system (k-s2/in)
k : Stiffness of the system (k/in)
c : Damping of the system (k-s/in)

mu t cu t ku t F t
Undamped Natural (Fundamental) Frequency

Damping Ratio (fraction of critical damping)

u t 2n u t u t
2
n

k
n
(rad/s)
m

c
2 km

F t
m

fn

n
(Hz)
2

c
ccr

DAMPING

MDOF SYSTEMS

t Cu t Ku t F t
Mu

m1
M 0
0

0
m2
0

x1

u x2
x
3

0
0
m3

cv1
C 0
0

x 1

u x 2
x
3

0
cv 2
cv 2

0
cv 2
cv 2

x1

x2
u
x
3

k1 k 2 k 4
K
k2

k4
f1

F f2
f
3

k2
k 2 k3
k3

k4
k3
k3 k 4

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

t Cu t Ku t F t
Mu

u q
x1

u x2
x
3

x1,1

x1, 2

x 2,1 x 2, 2
x 3,1 x 3, 2

x1,3

x 2,3
x 3,3

t TC q t T K q t T F t
T M q

t C*q t K *q t F * t
M *q

q1

q q2
q
3

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

m1
M 0
0

0
0
m3

0
m2
0

cv1
C 0
0

0
cv 2

0
cv 2

cv 2

cv 2

m1*

c1*

M* 0
0

m2*
0

0
m*3

C* 0
0

c2*
0

0
c3*

k1 k 2 k 4
K
k2

k4
k1*

K 0
0

k2
k 2 k3
k3
0

k 2*
0

0
k3*

q1 t 211q 1 t 12 q1 t

t Cu t Ku t F t
Mu

q2 t 22 2 q 2 t 22 q2 t

q3 t 23 3 q 3 t q

2
3 3 t

3 DOF SYSTEM

k4
k3
k3 k 4

f1* t
m1*
f 2* t
m2*

f 3* t
m3*

3 SDOF SYSTEMS

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

First Mode 1 , 1

Second Mode 2 , 2

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

First Mode 1 , 1

Second Mode 2 , 2

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

1st Lateral Bending 1 , 1

1st Torsional

2 ,

1st Vertical Bending 3 , 3

2nd Lateral Bending 4 , 4

2nd Torsional 5 , 5

2nd Vertical Bending 6 , 6

MDOF SYSTEMS - MODES

SPAULDING HOSPITAL REHAP GYM MODE #5, f = 8.08 Hz

KEY ASPECTS

Structure
Input

SOURCE

Response
PATH

RECEIVER

P(t)
& Vibration Criteria

RESPONSE @ RECEIVER
1)

Free Vibrations
Vibrations after an initial input
Example : Pulling a mass attached to a spring and then letting it go

2)

Forced Vibrations
An alternating force or motion is applied to a structure
Example : Running on a treadmill, a shaking washing machine etc.

FREE VIBRATION & LOGARITHMIC

DECREMENT METHOD

SDOF - FORCED VIBRATION

1.

Response to a Harmonic Force

Structural
frequency

mu t cu t ku t p0 sin t

Forcing
frequency

u t e nt A cos D t B sin D t C sin t D cos t

transient

steady-state

SDOF RESONANCE

n
mu t cu t ku t p0 sin nt

ust 0

p0
k

0.05

VIBRATION CRITERIA @ RECEIVER

1)

Vibration source and associated forcing function is determined.

2)

A finite element model of the path is constructed (mass, stiffness and damping)

3)

The response (disp., vel. or acc.) @ receiver location is determined.

4)

Calculated response is compared against acceptable vibration limits (VIBRATION

CRITERIA)

AISC Design Guide 11

Chap. 4 : Design for walking excitation

Chap. 5 : Design for rhythmic excitation
Chap. 6 : Design for sensitive equipment

Forced vibration (Harmonics)

Response: Resonance
Vib. Criteria : Acceleration
Free vibration (k-f method)
Response: Transient
Vib. Criteria: Velocity

Which chapter to go for a given vibration problem/design?

Floor freq. and walking freq. interaction

If ffloor = fstep or m*fstep, resonance response (Chapter 4), m=1, 2, 3, 4
fn > mmax*fstep, transient response (Chapter 6)
If vibration source involves health-club activities, go to Chapter 5.
M= 1110.6 slugs
K= 1.5784 E06 lb/ft

Low-Frequency Floor (LFF)

C= 2791.2 lb-s/ft
fn= 6 Hz

M= 1110.6 slugs
K= 4.3845 E06 lb/ft

C=1674.7 lb-s/ft
fn= 10 Hz

High-Frequency Floor (HFF)

10

2
1.5

magnitude (% of g)

acceleration (% of g)

LFF Response to Walking @ 1.5 Hz

1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1

10

10

10

-1

10

-1.5
-2

-2

5
6
time (s)

10

10

10

15

20 25 30 35
frequency (Hz)

Resonance response due to 4th Harmonics

40

45

50

LFF Response to Walking @ 2.0 Hz

2

10

10

magnitude (% of g)

acceleration (% of g)

1.5

0.5

10

10

-0.5
-1

10

-1.5
-2

-1

5
6
time (s)

10

10

10

15

20 25 30 35
frequency (Hz)

Resonance response due to 3rd Harmonics

40

45

50

LFF Response to Walking @ 2.4 Hz

2

10

10

1
0.5

magnitude (% of g)

acceleration (% of g)

1.5

0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2

5
6
time (s)

10

10

10

-1

10

-2

10

10

No resonance realized

15

20 25 30 35
frequency (Hz)

40

45

50

10

1.5
1

10
magnitude (% of g)

acceleration (% of g)

HFF Response to Walking @ 2.0 Hz

0.5
0
-0.5
-1

10

-1

10

-1.5
-2

5
6
time (s)

10

-2

10

10

No resonance realized

15

20 25 30 35
frequency (Hz)

40

45

50

DESIGN FOR WALKING (Ch. 4 DG11)

AISC DG-11 defines the following function for the ith harmonic load

Fi P i cos 2 if step t

P = persons weight taken as 157 lb for design

i = dynamic coefficient for ith harmonic load
i

= harmonic multiple of the step frequency

fstep = step frequency

Select the lowest i such that

Calculate acceleration response

f n i f step

(resonance)

a R i P

cos 2 if step t
g
W

R = reduction factor (0.5 for floor structures and 0.7 for footbridges)
W = effective weight of the floor
= modal damping ratio

DESIGN FOR WALKING

Reduction factor R accounts for;

Fi P i cos 2 if step t

1.

Full steady-state response is not achieved during walking duration

2.

Source and receiver are not simultaneously at the location of max. modal displ.

HIGH-FREQUENCY FLOORS :

f n 8 Hz
Transient response due to an individual footfall decays to practically zero by the
time the next footfall begins, so that no resonant build-up is possible.
Solution: Reduce a footfall to an equivalent impulse and calculate the impulse
response.
DG 11 : Provide a minimum stiffness of 5.7 k/in if fn > 9-10 Hz

VIBRATION CRITERIA

FLOOR VIBE
How does floorvibe handle this? Combination of each harmonics?
d

DESIGN FOR WALKING (ARUPS METHOD)

Arups method requires the computation of all modes with frequencies up to 1.5 times the
fourth harmonic of the step frequency.
1 - Steady-state acceleration response of mode n to the mth harmonic force:

amn

mf s

in on
fn

Pm
r
Mn

1
mf s

fn

mf s
j
fn

in , on : modal amplitudes at the excitation and response coordinates of the nth mode,
fn

: the natural frequency of the nth mode,

Pm

: the mth harmonic force (mG),

Mn

: the modal mass of the nth mode,

: the complex number

: reduction factor

DESIGN FOR WALKING (ARUPS METHOD)

r 1 e 2N

N 0.55m

where

L : Span length of the structural bay the walker crossing,

l : The stride length of the walker

2 Floor response caused by each harmonic:

am

all modes

a
n 1

mn

3 Total floor response caused by all harmonics:

a floor SRSS am

l
m 1

L
l

EXAMPLE : Electronic Office

FLOORVIBE

ETABS

Frequency : 4.5 Hz
Time-history acceleration: ap/g= 0.75%

FLOORVIBE

Frequency Predictions vs Measurements

AISC DG 11 FORMULA

1
1
1

2
2
2
fn
f beam f girder

Boice, MS Thesis, 2003

Frequency Predictions vs Measurements

Hick, 2004

Frequency Predictions vs Measurements

Boice, MS Thesis, 2003

1
1
1

4
4
f n4 f beam
f girder

Boice, MS Thesis, 2003

1
1
1

6
6
f n6 f beam
f girder

AISC DG11 / FLOORVIBE OVERVIEW

Frequency calculation is conservative,
Bay freq. formula is conservative, a more rational formula is available
the contribution of steel deck is not properly addressed
Operates only at rectangular bays
Selection of a floor width (FW) and length (FL) is left to the engineer
FW and FL have a direct effect on the estimated floor weight (W) which is a
significant parameter used in response calculation
Although freq. estimate is conservative, wrong selection of W can produce
unconservative response estimates
Response is obtained from a single mode associated with a single load harmonic
which may result in unconservative estimates in certain cases. Considering multiharmonics with multiple modes is more rational.

DESIGN FOR SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT

(Ch. 6 DG11)
SOURCE

: People walking

CRITERIA : Instantaneous PEAK (not RMS) VELOCITY (not ACCELERATION)

Idealized footstep force pulse

DESIGN FOR SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT

FloorVibe is using 1.2 instead of 1.4

which causes 36.1 % unconservatism for
slow walking.

DESIGN FOR SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT

V 2f n Am X static

X static Fm p

f nt0 0.5

Am

2
f
t
n o

= maximum predicted velocity

fn

= natural frequency of the bay where the receiver is located

Am

= dynamic magnification factor

t0

= pulse rise/decay time

f n t 0 0 .5

Xstatic = static deflection at receiver due to a concentrated load applied at source location
Fm

= maximum force

= flexibility at the receiver due to a load at the source

DESIGN FOR SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT

FloorVibe uses the solid curve

represented by the following
formula when fn<5 Hz

1
Am
2.2531
1.1168 f n t0

VIBRATION CRITERIA

PEAK vs RMS

PEAK vs RMS
Peak factor = g = Peak/RMS