Application of the Tuned Mass Damper Concept to the Modelling of Pedestrian-Structure Interaction

This paper investigates the effect of crowd walking in the dynamic response of a footbridge. For this purpose, the modal parameters of a single walking pedestrian are identified on the basis of the measurement of the applied load and body acceleration. These parameters are then extended to the characterization of a crowd. Noticing that the mass ratio, frequency and damping of crowds are of the same order of magnitude of the parameters of tuned mass dampers, an analogy is established to explain that pedestrians can act as tuned mass dampers and contribute to decrease the dynamic response with regard to that that would be predicted on the basis of an independent application of loading. Since tuned mass dampers are only effective for near-resonant conditions, it may also be expected that pedestrian-structure interaction can only be relevant for certain ranges of frequency. This fact is actually observed by comparing the loads applied by one pedestrian on a rigid platform and on a vibrating surface, near or at resonance. However, as consequence of the modelling of the crowd as a series of tuned mass dampers, it is additionally concluded that the most important aspect of the crowd influence corresponds to the added damping.

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