Calibration of the UK National Annex

This paper reviews the draft provisions for the UK National Annex for Eurocode EN 1991-2. The Eurocode does not currently contain provisions for the treatment of pedestrian comfort criteria on footbridges. The proposals given in the paper describe the background to the procedures and provide guidance in the application of the United Kingdom National Annex.

The paper lists the draft National Annex provision and provides details of methods that are suitable for the assessment of the responses for simple structures. These may be used by designers for the design of the majority of footbridges to ensure that the balance between safety and economy is reached. The paper also recaps the risk based approach towards pedestrian response, recognising the considerable variation in response between individual pedestrians.

The proposals were developed under a contract with the UK Highways Agency and form the UK’s response to the issuof pedestrian induced vibrations. Following a peer review process conducted on behalf of the Highways Agency, it was determined that the codified provisions should provide a framework for designers to work within rather than defining a single procedure. This enables specialist designers with advanced numerical tools to adapt the rules without penalty.

The contribution of the UK Highways Agency and the British Standards Institution is gratefully acknowledged.