Human-structure interaction: Effects of crowd characteristics

Abstract

Design for vibration serviceability currently relies almost entirely on the estimation of dynamic properties of the empty structure to be utilized for estimating the dynamic response or, at minimum, to avoid resonance with the excitation. However, the use of the empty structure properties has been questioned due to a phenomenon referred to as human-structure interaction where the dynamic properties of the occupied structure can be significantly different from the properties of the empty structure. General trends include an increase in damping ratio and a decrease in natural frequency (although special cases of increasing frequency or new modes have been documented). These trends seem to be affected by the posture of the crowd occupying the structure, and potentially other crowd characteristics. This study aims to isolate several crowd characteristics including posture, distribution, and crowd size, to determine the relative effect that each has on the overall dynamic properties of the occupied test structure.