Design and Construction of a Reconfigurable Pedestrian Structure

Abstract

The field of vibration serviceability of civil structures is becoming an increasingly important research area. There is a need to better understand the dynamics of these structures and how they interact with human occupants in terms of both their sensitivity to vibrations and the ground reaction forces from moving occupants. However, testing real world in-service structures is not always feasible and the resulting access limitations can limit the range of potential experimental investigations. This paper presents the design and construction of a laboratory structure that enables a wide range of experiments to be conducted under closely controlled conditions. The key novelty with this structure is that it can be recon figured and reassembled to signi ficantly change the modal frequencies, modal masses and mode shapes. In addition, it is shown that active vibration control can be used to control the modal damping ratios and thereby simulate a range of structures from bare steel footbridges to fully- fitted out o ffice floors.