Human-induced vibration of steel-concrete composite floors

Long-span composite floors have many desirable properties and have been increasingly employed in building construction. However, these long-span structures are prone to excessive and complex vibration under human rhythmic activities such as walking, running, jumping and aerobics, which may result in people's discomfort and complaints. A finite-element numerical study was conducted to investigate the vibration behaviour of profiled steel-deck composite floors under human walking and rhythmic activities. The results indicate that human-induced vibration of composite floors is influenced by several factors, namely the load model, the floor's natural frequency, effective weight and damping ratio. In a multi-unit floor system, higher modes may be excited and these vibration components should be considered. In addition, the vibration responses of both the active unit and adjacent passive units should be taken into consideration under human walking or rhythmic activities. In multi-floor buildings, the vibration of adjacent passive floors under rhythmic activities should be considered. The comfort index can be used to evaluate human perception to the vibration of composite floors. One important step in this procedure is to determine the peak accelerations of composite floors, which can be achieved based on the developed finite-element models.