Design of lightweight floor system for optimized vibration comfort

A major trend in current building practice is to reduce the weight of structures. The main incentives for this trend are the scarcity of materials and the rising costs of labor and materials. This is one of the goals of IFD (Industrial, Flexible and Demountable) way of building which is the prevalent Dutch approach to sustainable building. One of the heaviest and most complex parts of a building is the floor. Therefore the focus of this research is to develop a lightweight floor system. However, these lightweight floor systems are sensitive to vibrations and are therefore, without taking measures, regarded less comfortable than heavier, more traditional floor systems. This paper describes structural measures to increase vibration comfort. A quality measure, based on the velocity of the vibration, is used to compare the comfort value of a structure subjected to vibrations. This quality measure includes human sensitivity for vibration that is frequency dependent. The structural measures include intelligent coupling of structural elements and support conditions. A detailed study on the effects of these structural measures and a design principle with improved vibration comfort will be presented.