BASICS OF FLOOR

VIBRATION
BY NAVEEN

27-MARCH-2024
Introduction:
•Floor vibration is a significant serviceability concern in various engineering applications,
including building design, industrial facilities, and transportation infrastructure.
•It refers to the oscillatory motion experienced by floors due to various external excitations.
 Effects of Floor Vibration:
•Occupant Discomfort
•Equipment Damage
•Structural Integrity
•Erroneous laboratory results for Sensitive Equipment
Measurement and Evaluation:
Accelerometers: Used to measure vibration levels.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA): Computer simulations to predict floor response to dynamic
loads such as mode shapes and natural frequency.
Vibration Criteria: Standards such as AISC DG 11 provide guidelines for acceptable vibration
levels in different settings.
 Mitigation Strategies:
•Design Modifications: • Tuning Dampers:
◦ Increasing floor stiffness • Installing tuned mass dampers to
◦ Adding damping materials counteract vibrations at specific
◦ Reducing span lengths frequencies.

•Isolation Techniques:
◦ Using vibration isolators (e.g., elastomeric pads)
◦ Floating floors
◦ Decoupling structural elements
 FLOOR VIBRATION AS PER
AISC DG 11 (2016) – 2 Edition nd

Vibration of Steel Framed structural systems Due to Human activity

•Design for Walking Excitation – (In terms of acceleration)
•Design for Rhythmic Excitation - (In terms of acceleration)
•Design for Sensitive equipment & Sensitive occupants - (In terms of Velocity)
Parameters to Evaluate structural
systems for Vibration:
•Natural Frequency
•Damping
•Effective weight
•Mode Shape
•Forcing Frequency
•Tolerance limit.
 Natural Frequency:
• Frequency at which a structure vibrates when displaced.
• Basic Equation,

Recommendations,
• Natural frequency for Floor systems > 4 Hz
• Natural frequency for Staircase > 5 Hz

Resonance:
◦ When the natural frequency of a floor system matches the frequency of external excitations, resonance will
occur.
◦ At resonant frequency, relatively severe vibrations usually occur
Low Freq floor vs High Freq floor:
•The maximum step frequency of typical normal walking is approximately 2.2 Hz; therefore, the
maximum fourth harmonic frequency is (4*2.2 = 8.8 Hz) ~ 9.0 Hz.
•If a floor is subjected to normal walking and has a natural frequency below approximately 9 Hz,
it is considered to be an LFF. Otherwise, it is considered as an HFF.
 Damping & Damping ratio:
•When a system is displaced,
released, and allowed to undergo
free vibration, vibration energy
decreases over time.
•Loss of energy is called damping.
•Damping ratio = actual
damping/Critical damping
Eg:
• For Office floors w/ Ceiling and ducts at bottom = 0.01(Struc sys) +
0.01(Ceiling and Duct) + 0.005(electronic office fit out) = 0.025
• For Staircase w/ drywall soffit & tread & Risers & Guard rails with
potential friction interface with stringer = 0.038.
Tolerance Limits for
Human comfort:
•Office & residence = 0.5 %g
•Gym, shopping mall, indoor pedestrian
bridge = 1.5 %g
•Outdoor pedestrian bridges = 5 % g
•These limits are for Vibration frequency
between 4 & 8 Hz which is a range of
resonance frequency for internal organs.
Important Points to note while checking
Vibration in the FEA software:
•Extent of floor area: Simple approach is to include, Bay being evaluated + adjacent bays. For
instance, for the interior bay, use three by three grid of bays.
•Flexibility of the girder needs to be considered, which would decrease the natural frequency.
•Orthotropic shell, will give more accurate natural freq & mode shape predictions.
•Dynamic elastic modulus of concrete = 1.35 Ec.
•Use uncracked section properties, for most reasonable results.
•Mesh size ~ 1/10 x (bay Size)
•Beams, Joist, girders, connected to concrete slabs can be considered as fully composite.
•But for open web joists, it has to be partially composite, due to joist seat elastic deformation.
 Important Points to note while checking
Vibration in the FEA software:
• BM End connection shall be considered as continuous (though they are designed & detailed as shear
conns)
• But, for open web joist and joist girder w/o extended Bot chord, it should be hinged.
• For spandrel BMs & girders w/ even light cladding, eff MOI shall be increased by 2.5.
• Non-structural Partition walls (which avoids future remodelling) stiffness shall be included in the
modelling, which increases natural freq and mode shapes. Vertical linear spring = 2.0 kip/in/ft of wall.
• All SDL loads must be considered.
• Live loads = 11 PSF for (Paper office),
= 6 to 8 PSF for (Electronic office)
= 6 PSF for (Residence),
= 0 PSF for schools, churches, shopping malls, and assembly areas.
VIBRATION IN ETABS –
INPUTS AND RESULTS
Thank you