European Design Guide for Footbridge Vibration

Increasing vibration problems encountered in the last few years show that footbridges should no longer be designed for static loads only but also for the dynamic actions and vibration behaviour of the footbridge due to pedestrian loading.

For this reason European research has been performed to come up with a design concept for footbridges that takes into account different traffic situations and individual demands on vibration comfort. So the elaborated guideline considers different types of pedestrian traffic and the traffic density which can greatly influence comfort requirements of the bridge and the dynamic behaviour. It is important to predict the effect of pedestrian traffic on footbridges at the design stage and in the later verification of serviceability in order to guarantee a comfort level for the user. This guide gives recommendations for designer and client to find relevant design situations as well as methods how to prove if vibration requirements are fulfilled.

This paper presents the design guide methodology and gives some background information.