A Probability-Based Prediction of Footbridge Vibration

Phil Cooper reports on an entertaining and enlightening evening meeting which looked at a new
concept for dealing with human-induced vibrations of footbridges that addresses shortcomings of
current UK guidance.

Up to 100 people turned up on the researched area of rapidly growing and, whenever feasible, modal
evening of 22 February 2006 to listen importance. Having capabilities to masses) and dynamic response
to Professor Aleksandar Pavic conduct practically any conceivable measurements due to various
(Figure 1) describing prolific and highly type of dynamic testing of large civil activities like walking, running and
visible vibration engineering research engineering structures, from multi- jumping. By re-analysing collections
at the University of Sheffield and its channel ambient vibration surveys, via of such modal and vibration response
latest deliverable: a probability-based ultra-low level vibration data gathered from a number
framework for prediction of footbridge measurements to multi-shaker footbridges (examples shown in Figure
vibration due to walking. I do not think frequency-response-function (FRF) 2), the probability-based approach to
anybody regretted showing up at One based modal testing, VES is nowadays human-induced vibrations emerged.
Great George Street as one of the arguably the leading UK outfit Before this is described, a few facts
most entertaining and informative specialised in linking dynamic testing on the current state-of-the-art
lectures SECED had in recent times and numerical analysis of large civil regarding human-induced vibrations of
was delivered that evening. engineering structures for the purpose footbridges are worth noting.
of vibration serviceability assessment.
Firstly, a background to this Due to their slenderness, many
probability-based framework was In essence, the VES research modern footbridges may vibrate
given by a description of the research philosophy treats every real-life large significantly under pedestrian traffic.
environment and philosophy of the 10- scale civil engineering structure which Consequently, the vibration
strong Vibration Engineering Section is occupied and dynamically excited serviceability of these structures
(VES) in the Department of Civil and by people as a potential ‘laboratory’. under human-induced loading is
Structural Engineering, University of Over the years, this approach yielded becoming their governing design
Sheffield (http://vibration.shef.ac.uk). data on in-service vibration criterion. Most current design codes
Since its establishment in 1993, VES performance of dozens of structures in the world, including the relevant
was focused on vibration performance on which two types of tests were British code BD37/01, consider the
of civil engineering structures. In typically carried out: some form of dynamic force induced by a single
particular, rather narrow and unique dynamic testing yielding key as built pedestrian as the relevant loading
expertise was developed in vibration modal properties (natural frequencies, scenario when predicting footbridge
serviceability of slender civil mode shapes, modal damping ratios vibration response in the vertical
engineering structures, such as long-
span floors, footbridges, grandstands
and staircases, which are occupied
and dynamically excited by humans.
This portfolio is underpinned by
advanced research tools such as
vibration testing and system
identification of as-built large civil
engineering structures using full-scale
modal testing and finite element model
correlation and updating based on
experimental measurements [Ref 1].
This is a high-tech approach to
structural vibration widely used in
mechanical and aerospace
engineering disciplines, parts of which
have been adapted and transferred
into civil engineering applications by
Professor Pavic and his team.
Although difficult to master and apply
in practice, this dual analytical and
experimental approach to vibration
serviceability problems has yielded
some quite interesting results in the Figure 1 Aleksandar Pavic explains the framework for calculating probability
last decade and has the potential to
of various vibration responses of footbridges during single-person walking.
move things forward in this sparsely

SECED NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2006 - Page 13

 Figure 2 Examples of lightweight footbridges studied with experimental and analytical methods by Sheffield VES
direction [Ref 2]. This excitation is
modelled as a deterministic harmonic
force tuned to match a footbridge
natural frequency with amplitude
defined as a certain percentage of the
pedestrian’s weight.
However, the extensive in-situ and
other data gathered by VES and other
researchers in the last decade have
demonstrated without any doubt that
walking is not a deterministic
phenomenon since the force induced
by human walking is a narrow band
random process, rather than a periodic
force representable by a Fourier
series. Also, different natural
frequencies will have different
probabilities of being significantly
excited by walking. This is a
consequence of the fact that all human
beings are different and therefore
generate different dynamic forces,
both in terms of their amplitude and
SECED NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2006 - Page 14
frequency. Professor Pavic effectively
proved this point by showing
animations of various body motions
during walking. These graphically
demonstrated the effect of mood and
sex on walking: a satisfied relaxed and
happy female walks in a very different
way than her male counterpart who is
not in the same mood. Once the
laughter subsided, it was clear to the
audience how different gaits lead to
wide variations of body accelerations
and hence reaction forces between the
feet and the structure. Considering the
different shapes, sizes, ages and
moods in which people come, it is clear
that their walking is indeed a random
process which cannot be modelled
deterministically as currently
prescribed by many codes and
guidelines around the world.
A way to deal with this randomness
more realistically and take into account
these uncertainties, which influence
force modelling and response
prediction, is to represent them by
probability density functions. A
formulation of these probability density
functions and their implementation into
a procedure for vibration response
prediction are key elements of a novel
probabilistic approach which was
presented at this meeting. The
approach considers the following four
factors as the key sources of
randomness of the walking force:
1. the pacing frequencies,
2. walking velocities (expressed as
the number of steps to cross the
footbridge),
3. dynamic loading factors and
4. intra-subject variability in the
walking force (i.e. the difference
between subsequent steps of the
same person).
 Figure 3 Examples of cumulative probabilities that certain levels of vibration will not be exceeded which can be
calculated easily knowing footbridge modal properties.
Probability distribution functions are
proposed for each of these factors and
then used to calculate probabilities of
various peak accelerations of a
footbridge treated as a single degree
of freedom system with a known
natural frequency, mode shape, modal
damping and modal mass. (See [Ref
3] for further details.)
In essence, this is just a sophisticated
extension of the current UK provision
in BD37/01. However, the key
enhancement is that instead of a single
response value obtained using BD37/
01, this new analytical approach yields
a probability that a certain level of
vibration response will not be
exceeded for a single person walking.
Figure 2 shows examples of
cumulative probabilities indicating
probability that a certain level of
vibration will not be exceeded.
Figure 3a corresponds to a
fundamental mode of vibration of a
real-life footbridge having natural
frequency of 2.04 Hz, modal damping
ration of only 0.26%, modal mass of
58,000 kg and a beamlike modeshape.
It can be seen that, say, 0.2 m/s 2
acceleration has probability of 80% of
not being exceeded. It is interesting
to note that, following BD37/01
recommendations, the limiting
acceleration for this rather lively and
problematic footbridge is 0.7 m/s 2.
Figure 2a indicates that this
acceleration is almost certain not to
be exceeded despite the fact that the
footbridge is perceived as
unpleasantly lively by many of its
directly interviewed everyday users at
lower accelerations. This indicates that
SECED NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2006 - Page 15
the BD37/01 limit for acceptable
vibration may not be on the safe side,
which should not be that surprising
considering that it was in fact a
compromise between two sets of data
available 30 years ago when the
guideline was first written. A strong
case for not only a probability-based
forcing function, but also a probability-
based limit of footbridge vibration was
made during the lecture.
Figure 3b and c present cumulative
probability curves of the vibration
response of an ultra-light footbridge.
Figure 3b corresponds to the
fundamental mode of vibration having
natural frequency of 1.52 Hz whereas
Figure 3c shows modal response of
the mode having almost identical
modal damping, mass and shape
properties, but frequency of 1.86 Hz.
Considering that pacing frequencies
for footbridges are normally distributed
around approximately 1.9 Hz, with a
small probability of slow walking
around 1.5 Hz to occur, it should not
be surprising to see that probability of
the same level of vibration (say, 1 m/
s2) being exceeded for the 1.52 Hz
mode is always lower than for the
1.86 Hz mode. Therefore, the
probability-based approach leads to a
lower probability of liveliness of
footbridges having natural frequencies
away from mean pacing rates, which
is what has been observed in practice.
However, following the BD37/01
provision, these two modes would lead
to practically the same peak responses
which would not reflect what happens
in reality. Not modelling reality in
vibration serviceability could lead to
considerable errors in vibration
serviceability assessments.
In conclusion, this evening lecture
more than achieved what was outlined
in its synopsis. It outlined a strong
proposal for a possible framework
which could be the way forward when
updating some aspects of the British
code provision for footbridge vibration
serviceability check which is almost 30
years old. Moreover, it is clear that
this philosophy is equally applicable
to multi-harmonic excitation and multi-
modal responses not only of
footbridges, but also of long-span
floors in buildings which are
dynamically excited by walking
humans.
References
1. Zivanovic, S., Pavic, A. and
Reynolds, P. (2006) Modal
Testing and Finite Element Model
Tuning of a Lively Footbridge
Structure. Engineering
Structures, Vol. 28, No 6, pp. 857-
868.
2. Zivanovic, S., Pavic, A. and
Reynolds, P. (2005) Vibration
Serviceability of Footbridges
under Human-Induced
Excitation: A Literature Review.
Journal of Sound and Vibration,
Vol. 279, No 1-2, pp. 1-74.
3. Zivanovic, S., Pavic, A. and
Reynolds, P. Probability Based
Prediction of Multi Mode
Vibration Response to Walking
Excitation. Engineering
Structures, Elsevier. In press.