Numerical Analysis Of Composite Floor Vibration Due To Human Walking

Excessive floor vibration due to human walking has become a common serviceability issue in modern composite floor systems. This work investigates the numerical analysis methods of composite floor vibration due to human walking. Basing on the ANSYS, a whole set of methods of stimulating various human walking are developed.The modeling methods of profiled composite floor are presented, namely, a sophisticated3D composite panel model, an isotropic and an orthotropic flat plate models. The comparison of three approaches is developed and the assessments of each method are conducted. Also the implementation suggestions of finite element modeling (FE) in different codes and guidelines are summarized.ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) programs are developed to stimulate the human walking and load the walking excitation on the various locations. These programs could be followed by designers easily to predict the response of floor vibration due to human walking.Then, the four numerical stimulation methods of single people walking are studied in details. The numerical results of these methods are compared with the experimental data from previous literatures. This can enable designers to get insight into the differences of different methods and utilize these methods effectively and efficiently.As the final phase of the research, crowd walking loads were also simulated by APDL programming. MATLAB is adopted to produce the crowd random walking excitation. Then this random load model is added into the ANSYS transient analysis program to predict the vibration response.The objective of the research is to develop a well-defined approach to modeling footfall load using common finite element software. The approach will benefit building designers helping to avoid service problems in general structures and meet extreme limits in more demanding applications.