Theoretical analysis of the active human-structure interaction on rectangular plates

Resumo

When analyzing the effect of human actions on structures, it is common to consider only the dynamic
force generated by the crowd (only force models) in the design practice, where the biodynamic properties, such as
mass, stiffness and damping, are neglected. However, several studies have shown that human properties influence
the dynamic response of structures. On that basis, in this work the human induced vibrations on thin rectangular
plates are investigated. For this, a biodynamic model is used to represent the people walk, where the biodynamic
properties are coupled with the properties of the plate. The boundary conditions are considered by linear rotational
springs on all edges in order to characterize a plate almost clamped. The influence of the biodynamic properties,
as walking velocity, mass and damping ratio of a single person in the dynamic response of system is studied. The
biodynamic model is also compared with a force-only model and the results are discussed. Obtained results shown
that the modeling using the force-only model provides an increase of transversal displacement of plate when
compared to the biodynamic model. It was also noted that increased of modal mass and walking velocity cause a
reduction of displacements, while increases in pedestrian damping ratio lead to larger vibration amplitudes and the
position of amplitude peak point is also modified.