Vibration analysis and human comfort assessment of composite floors subjected to dynamic loads induced by groups of people

Resumo

This research works aims to assess the human comfort and study the structural behaviour of steel-concrete composite floors subjected to dynamic loadings induced by rhythmic human activities. In this paper, the analysed structural system corresponds to a steel-concrete composite floor with dimensions of 40m x 40m and total area of 1600m2. The structure represents a typical interior floor of a commercial building commonly used for aerobics. The dynamic loadings were obtained through the use of traditional “only force” mathematical models, and also based on the consideration of biodynamic systems, in order to incorporate the human-structure interaction dynamic effect to assess the floor dynamic response. This way, the finite element model of the floor was developed based on the use of modelling techniques, adopting the mesh refinement present in the Finite Element Method (FEM) and implemented in the ANSYS software. The floor dynamic response, analysed based on the displacements and accelerations values, was determined through the investigation of several dynamic load models considering groups of people practicing rhythmic activities on the concrete slabs. Finally, it was concluded that the displacements and accelerations values have surpassed the design criteria recommended limits indicating that the floor human comfort was violated, inducing excessive vibrations and human discomfort.