Footfall Analysis

Guide

Finite Element Analysis & Design Program

© Inter-CAD Kft. 2017

SUMMARY
Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
THEORY AND BACKGROUND ............................................................................................. 2
Vibration Characteristics .............................................................................................................2
Calculation of the Response Factor...........................................................................................3
Introduction of Procedure CCIP-016 ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction of procedure SCI P354 ......................................................................................................................................... 4

THE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THE PROCEDURES IN AXISVM X4 ..................................... 6

EXAMPLES ............................................................................................................................. 8
Analysis of an L-shaped planar plate ........................................................................................8
Analysis of a multi-storey building..........................................................................................10
LIMIT VALUES OF THE RESPONSE FACTOR ..................................................................... 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 14
Vibration response factor -Guide- 2

INTRODUCTION

The goal of the footfall analysis is to determine and check the accelerations due to human induced
vibrations, which may result in the decrease of the comfort or may have influence on sensitive
instruments or even can decrease the serviceability of the building.

The main purpose of this guide is to give a better insight into the built-in procedures to help the
understanding. The approaches, we introduce here are based on the works: „A Design Guide for
Footfall Induced Vibration of Structures”, [1] and "Design of Floors for Vibration: A New Approach”, [2].

During the set up of the modell it is important to take into account the fact that the structures are
stiffer for dynamical loads. The setting of the supports, connections between the structural members,
edge hinges must reflect stiffer behaviour for dynamical loads than what is assumed for statical loads.

THEORY AND BACKGROUND

VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS
The response of a system for forced vibration consists of two parts: a transient part and a steady-state
part. The response for footfalls can have two different characteristics. If the structure is „stiff” (the first,
dominant, vertical directional mode’s frequency is larger then four times the fundamental frequency of
walking) then the steady-state solution is negligible beside the transient solution because between two
steps the vibrations decay due to the large stiffness and damping. In this case the excitation can be
modelled as a series of impacts on the structure. An example can be found in Figure 1(a). We would
like to emphasise here that in this case we neglect the superposition of the consecutive footfalls, which
is acceptable if we assume the decay of the vibration between two steps. The transient vibration is a
free vibrational response of the system, which relates to given initial conditions, so the frequency
content of the response consists of the eigenfrequencies of the system, so evidently the forcing
frequencies do not appear in this solution.

(a) (b)

Figure 1. Possible acceleration response characteristics: series of transient vibrations due to impacts on a „stiffer”
structure (a), steady-state solution due to continuous excitation force on a „softer” structure (b).

On the other hand, if the structure is „softer”, so there exists an eigenfrequency, which is smaller than
four times the fundamental frequency of walking, than resonance may appear if the force is not
orthogonal to the eigenshape. Resonance appears if the fundamental frequency or one of the
overtones (integer multiple of the fundamental frequency) is equal to one of the structure’s
eigenfrequencies. In this situation the transient solution is negligible beside the steady-state solution.
The amplitude of the acceleration becomes constant after a while, see Figure 2(b). It is important to
note that as one can see time is needed for the evolution of the steady-state amplitude, so maximal
accelerations can only evolve in unfavourable situations, when the structure undergoes long resonant
forcing.
3

CALCULATION OF THE RESPONSE FACTOR

INTRODUCTION OF PROCEDURE CCIP-016

Transient vibration The function of the vertical velocity obtained from 𝑁𝑡𝑟 eigenshapes, where the indice of the analysed
node is r, while indice of the forced node is e:

𝑁 𝐼𝑒𝑓𝑓,𝑚 (1)
𝑣𝑤,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 (𝑡) = ∑𝑚=1
𝑡𝑟
𝜇𝑒,𝑚 𝜇𝑟,𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑛(2𝜋𝑓𝑚 𝑡) 𝑒𝑥𝑝(−2𝜋𝜁𝑓𝑚 𝑡), where
𝑚𝑚

 𝑁𝑡𝑟 : is the analysed number of eigenshapes,

 𝑓𝑚 : mth eigenfrequency,
 𝜁: critical damping ratio, see [1] Table A2,
 𝜇𝑒,𝑚 : the vertical directional displacement of the forced node (indice: e), on the mth mode,
 𝜇𝑟,𝑚 : the vertical directional displacement of the analysed node (indice: r), on the mth mode,
 𝐼𝑒𝑓𝑓,𝑚 : impulse load of a footfall, see [1] Equation (4.10),
 𝑚𝑚 : modal mass of the mth eigenshape, which is equal to 1, if the shapes is normalised to the
mass,
 𝑡 : time.

The averaging velocity can be obtained in the following form:

1 𝑇 (2)
𝑣𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 = √ ∫0 𝑣𝑤,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 (𝑡)2 𝑑𝑡 , where
𝑇

1
𝑇: period of one step (= ). This yields the response factor :
𝑓𝑝

𝑣𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟
𝑚 , ℎ𝑎 𝑓1 ≤ 8𝐻𝑧 (3)
0.005 2
𝑠
𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 = 2𝜋𝑓1 , where
𝑣𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟
𝑚 , ℎ𝑎 𝑓1 > 8𝐻𝑧
{ 0.0001
𝑠

𝑓1 is the fundamental frequency of the structure. This frequency is one of the eigenfrequency (𝑓𝑚 ),
which has the largest coefficient in the summation, see above Equation (1). Equation (3) contains the
effect of the frequency sensitivity, which describes the fact that the sensitivity of the human body
depends on the frequency of the response signal of the structure not just the maximal acceleration of it

Steady-state The real and imaginary part of the acceleration relating to hth overtone and mth eigenshape:
vibration

ℎ∗𝑓𝑝 2 𝐹ℎ 𝜇𝑒,𝑚𝜇𝑟,𝑚𝜚 𝐴ℎ,𝑚 (4)

𝑎𝑒,𝑟,𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙,ℎ,𝑚 = ( ) ∗ ∗ ,
𝑓𝑚 𝑚𝑚 𝐴2 2
ℎ,𝑚 +𝐵ℎ,𝑚

ℎ∗𝑓𝑝 2 𝐹ℎ 𝜇𝑒,𝑚 𝜇𝑟,𝑚 𝜚 𝐵ℎ,𝑚

𝑎𝑒,𝑟,𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦,ℎ,𝑚 = ( ) ∗ ∗ , where
𝑓𝑚 𝑚𝑚 𝐴2 2
ℎ,𝑚 +𝐵ℎ,𝑚

 ℎ: number of harmonic,
 𝑓𝑚 : mth eigenfrequency,
 𝐹ℎ : the Fourier coefficient, which relates to the hth harmonic,
 𝜇𝑒,𝑚 : the vertical directional displacement of the forced node (indice: e), on the mth
eigenshape,
 𝜇𝑟,𝑚 : the vertical directional displacement of the analysed node (indice: r), on the mth
eigenshape,
 𝜚: resonance build-up factor, 𝜚 = 1 − exp(−2𝜋𝜁𝑁), where N is the number of footsteps,
 𝑚𝑚 : modal mass of the mth eigenshape, which is equal to 1, if the shapes is normalised to the
mass,
Vibration response factor -Guide- 4
ℎ∗𝑓𝑝 2 ℎ∗𝑓𝑝
 𝐴ℎ,𝑚 = 1 − ( ) , 𝐵ℎ,𝑚 = 2𝜁 : parameters.
𝑓𝑚 𝑓𝑚

The acceleration component, which relates to the hth harmonic can be expressed int he following way:

𝑁 2 𝑁 2 (5)
𝑎𝑒,𝑟,ℎ = √(∑𝑚=1
𝑠𝑡
𝑎𝑒,𝑟,𝑣𝑎𝑙ó𝑠,ℎ,𝑚 ) + (∑𝑚=1
𝑠𝑡
𝑎𝑒,𝑟,𝑘é𝑝𝑧𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠,ℎ,𝑚 ) , ahol

where Nst is the number of eigenshapes, taken into account. The response factor of the hth harmonic:

𝑎𝑒,𝑟,ℎ
𝑚 , 𝑖𝑓 ℎ ∗ 𝑓𝑝 ≤ 4𝐻𝑧 (6)
0.0141 2.5
𝑠
√ℎ∗𝑓𝑝

𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡,ℎ 𝑎𝑒,𝑟,ℎ ,
𝑚 , 𝑖𝑓 4𝐻𝑧 < ℎ ∗ 𝑓𝑝 ≤ 8𝐻𝑧
0.0071 2
𝑠
𝑎𝑒,𝑟,ℎ
𝑚 , 𝑖𝑓 ℎ ∗ 𝑓𝑝 > 8𝐻𝑧
{ 0.000282 𝑠 𝜋ℎ∗𝑓𝑝

which expression contains the effect of freqency sensitivity, like the one above. The response factor

taking into account all the harmonics: 𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 = √∑4ℎ=1 𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡,ℎ 2 , which is an SRSS summation of the four

harmonics.

The response factor of the analysed node, r (e: the indice of the forced node):

𝑅𝑟 = max(max𝑒 𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 , max𝑒 𝑅𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 ), (7)

so we maximise the responses with respect to the indice e, furthermore we calculate these two
maximums , one for the transient and one for the steady state solution, and associate the larger one to
node r.

INTRODUCTION OF PROCEDURE SCI P354

Transient vibration The function of the vertical acceleration obtained from 𝑁𝑡𝑟 eigenshapes, where the indice of the
analysed node is r, while indice of the forced node is e:

𝑁 𝐹𝐼 (8)
𝑎𝑤,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 (𝑡) = ∑𝑛=1
𝑡𝑟
2𝜋𝑓𝑛 √1 − 𝜁 2 𝜇𝑒,𝑛 𝜇𝑟,𝑛 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑛 √1 − 𝜁 2 𝑡) exp(−𝜁2𝜋𝑓𝑛 𝑡)𝑊𝑛 , where
𝑀𝑛

 𝑁𝑡𝑟 : is the analysed number of eigenshapes,

 𝑓𝑛 : nth eigenfrequency,
 𝜁: critical damping ratio, see [2] Table 4.1.,
 𝜇𝑒,𝑛 : the vertical directional displacement of the forced node (indice: e), on the nth mode,
 𝜇𝑟,𝑛 : the vertical directional displacement of the analysed node (indice: r), on the nth mode,
 𝐹𝐼 : impulse load of a footfall,
 𝑀𝑛 : modal mass of the nth eigenshape, which is equal to 1, if the shapes is normalised to the
mass,
 𝑡 : time,
 𝑊𝑛 : frequency-dependent weighting function, which relates to the nth mode, see [2].

The averaging acceleration obtained from the time-dependent acceleration, see Equation (8):

1 𝑇 (9)
𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 = √ ∫0 𝑎𝑤,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 (𝑡)2 𝑑𝑡, where
𝑇

1
𝑇: period of one step (= ).
𝑓𝑝
5

Steady-state The acceleration function with 𝐻 harmonics and 𝑁𝑠𝑡 eigenshapes:

vibration

𝑁 𝐹ℎ
𝑎𝑤,𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 (𝑡) = ∑𝑛=1
𝑠𝑡
∑𝐻
ℎ=1 𝜇𝑒,𝑛 𝜇𝑟,𝑛 𝐷𝑛,ℎ sin(2𝜋ℎ𝑓𝑝 𝑡 + 𝜙ℎ + 𝜙𝑛,ℎ ) 𝑊ℎ , where (10)
𝑀𝑛

 𝑁𝑠𝑡 : is the analysed number of eigenshapes,

 𝑓𝑝 : pathing, fundamental frequency of walking,
 𝜇𝑒,𝑛 : the vertical directional displacement of the forced node (indice: e), on the nth mode,
 𝜇𝑟,𝑛 : the vertical directional displacement of the analysed node (indice: r), on the nth mode,
 𝐹ℎ : the Fourier coefficient, which relates to the hth harmonic, see [2],
 𝑀𝑛 : modal mass of the nth eigenshape, which is equal to 1, if the shapes is normalised to the
mass,
 𝑡 : time,
 𝐷𝑛,ℎ : response factor (nth shape, hth harmonic), see [2],
 𝜙𝑛 , 𝜙𝑛,ℎ : phase angles (n-edik alak, h-adik harmonikus), see [2],
 𝑊𝑛 : frequency-dependent weighting function, which relates to the nth mode, see [2].

During the analysis of the steady-state solution (in both procedures) those eigenshapes are taken into
account, which have eigenfrequency smaller then the fundamental frequency times the number of
harmonics (𝐻)+2Hz (cut-off limit). Above this limit there is no significant increment in the acceleration.
First we summarise the acceleration components with respect to the harmonics and after that the
acceleration amplitude can be obtained by an SRSS summation with respect to the shapes. And
according to this one can obtain the vertical acceleration of the node r, when the node e is excited, see
Equation (11).

1 𝐹ℎ 2 (11)
𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 = √∑𝑁 𝐻
𝑛=1 (∑ℎ=1 𝜇𝑒,𝑛 𝜇𝑟,𝑛 𝐷𝑛,ℎ 𝑊ℎ ) .
√2 𝑀𝑛

In the case of resonant vibration time is needed to achieve

the maximal acceleration value, see again Figure 1(b), due to
this fact we can decrease the steady state solutions:

𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 = 𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 ∗ 𝜚, where (12)

2𝜋𝜁𝐿𝑝 𝑓𝑝
𝜚 resonance build-up factor: 𝜚 = 1 − exp (− ), where
𝑣

Figure 2. Resonance build-up factor as a  𝐿𝑝 : length of the walking path, which can be set to
function of the length of the walking path, the length of a critical corridor, or we can safely
𝜁 = 1%, 𝑓𝑝 = 2𝐻𝑧. approximate it with a significant horizontal
dimension of the building.
 𝑣: velocity of walking, see [2], Equation (16).

According to this the response acceleration, which relates to the analysed node r:

𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑟 = max(max𝑒 𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑡𝑟 , max𝑒 𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑒,𝑟,𝑠𝑡 ), (13)

which yields the dimensionless response factor of the analysed node r:

𝑎𝑤,𝑟𝑚𝑠,𝑟
𝑅𝑟 = 𝑚 . (14)
0.005 2
𝑠
Vibration response factor -Guide- 6

THE IMPLEMENTATIONS OF THE PROCEDURES IN AXISVM X4

If vibration results relate to the modell, then the Footfall analysis button becomes active, see Figure 3.
In Figure 4. the Footfall analysis windows can be found. The procedure will begin after clicking on „Ok”,
if the modell contains surface elements and among them there exists at least one element, at which the
Figure 3. Active angle between its normal and the direction of gravity is smaller then 70°. The procedure considers a
Footfall analysis surface element a floor element if the angle between the normal and the gravity is less then or equal to
10°, if the angle is 10° − 70°, then the surface assumed to be stair, to which different frequency limits,
Fourier coefficients relate to (only in SCI P354 procedure). On nodes, which relate to walls or rods the
program does not apply forcing and does not analyse the accelerations of these nodes.

Figure 4. Vibration response factor window.

The vibration response factor procedure is a computationally expensive calculation, so the program
offers some simplification in the analysis, which can significantly shorten the runtime.

Modal shapes to  All modal shapes for the load cases/combinations: if the user set this radiobutton, then all
use the eigenshapes, which relate to the load case or combination are taken into account. So the
number of eigenmodes in the transient analysis, 𝑁𝑡𝑟 , see above is equal to the number of
modes, which relate the load case/combination. While for steady-state analysis all the
eigenmodes are taken into account till the cut off limit (𝑁𝑠𝑡 ), where the cut-off limit is equal to
the fundamental frequency times the number of harmonics (𝐻)+2Hz. Above this limit the
eigenshapes are not dangerous from the resonance point of view.
 Shapes activated in the table of modal mass factors: the user can switch off modes, which
presumably have no effect on the footfall analysis.
 Below a frequency limit: in this setting the user can define a cut-off frequency, above which
the software does not take into account the eigenshapes.
7

If the largest calculated eigenfrequency is below

the cut-off limit (see above) or the user switched
of an eigenshape below the cut-off limit or the
frequency limit is below the cut-off limit, then the
name of the load case or combination becomes
red, see Figure 5.

Figure 5. Warning on the vibration results.

Excitation method  Full (any node to any node): in this option the analysed node of a floor or stair gets excited
by arbitrary nodes, which relate to floor or stair (the software does not analyse or force nodes
which relate to walls).
 Excitation at the extremes of the modal shapes: in this case the excited nodes (e) are
limited in such a way that only at the two extremes (min and max) of the modes are excited,
see for example Figure 6:

Figure 6. Excitation at the extremes of the modal shapes, excited nodes.

 Excitation at the node where the response is analysed: in this option the forced and the
analysed node is the same, so 𝑒 = 𝑟. This option is usually appropriate if the user is interested
in the global maximum of the vibration response spectrum and the goal is to prove the
structure’s reliability globally. However, it is suggested to check this result with methods
decribed above.
 Excitation until adjacent stories only: if the model consits of at least three storeys, then this
checkbox becomes active. If the user switch it on, then the storey of the analysed node and
the storey of the excited one must be the same or must be adjacent. Different load case is not
handled.

Damping ratio The damping ratio can be chosen according to the works [1] and [2]. The description of the footfall
parameters can be found above.

Pace frequency During the set up of the pace frequency the user determines the lower and the upper boundary of the
analysed frequency range. In the analysis the software evaluate a list, in which discrete frequencies
appear, which cause resonance in the system. If the obtained frequencies are smaller than 20, then by
interval halving further elements are added to the list, if it is larger, then elements are deleted from the
list. If the maximal difference between two discrete frequency is larger than 0.1 Hz, then further
interval halving is applied. All in all at the calculation is carried out for at least 20 discrete pace
frequencies.
Vibration response factor -Guide- 8

EXAMPLES

ANALYSIS OF AN L-SHAPED PLANAR PLATE

Parameters The geometric parameters of the analysed structure is illustrated in Figure 7. The thickness of the plate
is constant: 20 cm.

Figure 7. Geometric values of the analysed problem.

The material of the model relates to C25/30 (EC), Young’s modulus: 𝐸 = 3150𝑘𝑁/𝑐𝑚2 . The boundary
conditions are point-like hinges and line-like hinges, see Figure 7. The number of the nodes: 1870, the
analysed number of modes: 10.

Results Figures 8., 9., 10. illustrates the results of the problem with same design method, but with different
excitation methods with the notation of the running time. As one can observe the maximal values are
the same, but the charateristics of the envelope functions are differs from each other. It is easy to admit
that the full excitation is always above (yields larger accelerations) the other excitation methods.

Figure 8. Full excitation, CCIP-016 design method, running time: 20 sec.

9

Figure 9. Excitation at the extremes of modal shapes, CCIP-016 design method, running time: 2 sec.

Figure 10. Excitation at the nodes where the response is analysed, CCIP-016 design method, running time: <1 sec.
Vibration response factor -Guide- 10

ANALYSIS OF A MULTI-STOREY BUILDING

Parameters The geometric parameters of the structure is illustrated in Figure 11. and 12. The thickness of the plates
is constant: 20cm. The cross section of the columns are square with size of 40x40 cm.

Figure 11. Multi-storey building, in top view.

Figure 12. Multi-storey building, in side view.

The material parameters of the model relate to concrete, C16/20 (EC), Young’s modulus: 𝐸 =
2860𝑘𝑁/𝑐𝑚2 . The columns have clamped end. The number of the nodes: 6647, the number of the
examined, z-directional modeshapes: 50.
11

Results The results are shown in Figures 13, 14, 15. Only the vibration response factors of the first storey are
illustrated with different excitation methods. Figure 13. illustrates the solution of the „exact”, full
excitation, while in Figure 14. the results for method excitation at the extremes of modal shapes is
plotted and in Figure 15. the results for method excitation at the nodes where the response is analysed
can be seen. As one can see all the three methods show similar maximal value, but the characteristics
of the functions are different. If we take adventage from the storey and only nodes on the same or
adjacent storeys can force the analysed one, then the running time can be reduced to 1087 s.

Figure 13. Slab of the first storey, full exctiation, CCIP-016 design method, without analysing the storey of the nodes,
running time: 1335 sec.

Figure 14. Slab of the first storey, excitation at the extremes of modal shapes, CCIP-016 design method, without
analysing the storey of the nodes, running time: 57 sec.
Vibration response factor -Guide- 12

Figure 15. Slab of the first storey, excitation at the nodes where the response is analysed, CCIP-016 design method,
without analysing the storey of the nodes, running time: 2 sec.

The analysis of the maximal value of the response factor

the number of the node on which the maximal response
showed up, the maximal value, the forced node, which
relates to this most unfavourable case and the critical
frequency. In the current case the critical fundamental
frequency is f= 2.70 𝐻𝑧. The analysis of the eigenshapes,
eigenfrequencies showed that the 30. shape’s
eigenfrequency: 𝑓0,30 = 10.80 𝐻𝑧 and the eigenshape is
illustrated in FIgure 17. It is easy to admit that this shape
resonates with the third overtune of the fundamental
frequency, as four times the fundamental frequency is

Figure 16. Result of the maximal value

equal to this eigenfrequency.
function.

Figure 17. 30. eigenshape (𝒇𝟎,𝟑𝟎 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟖𝟎 𝑯𝒛), first storey’s z-directional displacement component.
13

LIMIT VALUES OF THE RESPONSE FACTOR

The limit values of the vibration response factor at different standards can be found in Table 1. and 2.

Limit values in BS
Impulsive excitation
6472, [3]: Continuous vibration
Place Time with up to 3
16h day 8h night
occurences
Critical working Day 1 1
areas(e.g.: hospital
operating theatres) Night 1 1

Day 2 to 4 60 to 90
Residental
Night 1.4 20
Day 4 128
Office
Night 4 128

Day 8 128
Workshops
Night 8 128
Table 1. Vibration response factor limit values, BS 6472, [3].

Limit values in SCI,

[4]: Continuous
Place
vibration

Office 8
Shopping mall 4 [4]

Dealing floor 4

Stairs-light use (offices) 32 [5]

Stairs-heavy use (e.g.
24 [5]
public buildings, stadia)
Table 2. Vibration response factor limit values, SCI, [4].
Vibration response factor -Guide- 14

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Willford, M.R., Young, P. A Design Guide for Footfall Induced Vibration of Structures, Concrete Society, 2006

2. Smith, A. L., Hicks, S. J., Devine, P. J. Design of Floors for Vibration: A New Approach, The Steel Construction
Institute, Ascot, 2009

3. BS 6472:1992 Guide to evaluation of human exposure to vibration in buildings (1 Hz to 80 Hz)

4. Wyatt, T. A. Design guide on the vibration of floors, The Steel Construction Institute,1989

5. Ellingwood, B. Structural servicebility: Floor vibrations, ASCE Journal os Structural Engineering, 1984

6. Bishop, N. W. M., Willford, M., Pumphrey, R. Human induced loading for flexible staircases, Safety Science 18,
1995