Measurement and prediction of the pedestrian-induced vibrations of a footbridge

Vibration serviceability has become an important issue in the design of modern slender footbridges with large spans. This paper presents the measurements and the numerical predictions of the footfall-induced vibrations of a pedestrian bridge. A series of experiments were carried out with different-sized groups crossing the bridge, varying in number from 10 up to 50 participants and recording the vertical and lateral accelerations at different locations on the bridge. Two types of tests were performed: free walking and synchronized walking by means of a metronome signal, recorded on a tape recorder carried by the group of students. The effect of the test type is analyzed and shows a magnitude in difference between the vertical accelerations caused by the free and the synchronized walking. The increasing trend of the acceleration levels with increasing group size is also clearly observed. A numerical prediction method is used to simulate the synchronized walking experiments based on an updated finite element model of the bridge and a single pedestrian load model. It is shown that the predicted acceleration level is sensitive to the assumptions made regarding the level of synchronization between the pedestrians and the magnitude of the dynamic load generated by each pedestrian. Taking into account these specific measurement conditions, a fair agreement is obtained between the predicted and the observed vertical acceleration levels at seven positions along the length of the footbridge.