Study of the Effects of Non-Structural Building Elements and Human-Structure Interaction on the Dynamic Behavior of Floors Subjected to Human Movements

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Study of the Effects of Non-Structural Building Elements and Human-Structure Interaction on the Dynamic Behavior of Floors Subjected to Human MovementsMehdi Setareh, and Thomas M. MurrayPROJECT SUMMARYRecent advances in the development of higher strength materials coupled with more efficient construction techniques, more accurate computer-assisted structural analysis and design, new design methods, and more common use of long-span structures by architects have resulted in many floors that are susceptible to annoying floor vibrations due to walking, jumping, dancing, and similar activities.Even though this problem has been studied during the past thirty years, problem floors have become an increasingly common occurrence. These problems are mainly due to a lack of accurate definition of the dynamic parameters of floors, which in turn have caused poor correlations between the levels of measured and predicted vibrations by various design guides and particularly finite element analyses. Two major issues that have been mainly ignored in previous research are the effects of non-structural elements and the effects of the interaction of occupants and structure on the floor system. Most non-structural building elements are designed and detailed by non-engineers, mainly architects. Unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness of this problem among architects. The proposed research project intends to address the above problems. A two-story structure will be constructed at the Virginia Tech Research Center to act as a full-scale test model for a series of dynamic tests representative of the analytical excitations. It is estimated that the construction of the testing facility will be completed within the first eighteen months from the project starting date. A short pilot study to consider the effects of the non-structural elements and human-structure interactions will be conducted during the remainder of this two-year research effort.The broader impacts of this project are: First, the test structure will be a permanent center for the study of floor vibrations. Industries interested in the development of new products to address this problem will be able to use the facility to test their products. This will be a collaborative effort between the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering of Virginia Tech. Students in the architecture and civil engineering programs will have access to this facility for their research projects, and help them understand the different aspects of this problem. The PIs will incorporate the results of this research into their architecture and civil engineering courses. All efforts will be made to involve students in the under-represented groups and minorities in this research. In addition, undergraduate students will be included through the NSF-REU program.