Damping assessment of lightweight timber floors under human walking excitations

Date
2019-09Author
Opazo-Vega, Alexander
Muñoz-Valdebenito, Francisco
Oyarzo-Vera, Claudio
Publisher
Applied SciencesDescription
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Vibrations on timber floors are among the most common serviceability problems in social
housing projects. The presence of low damping levels on these floors could cause excessive vibrations
in a range of frequency and amplitude that generate discomfort in users. This study focuses on the
influence of the damping ratio in the dynamic serviceability of social housing timber floors due to
walking excitations. More than 60 human-walking vibration tests were conducted on both laboratory
and in-situ timber floors. The floors were instrumented with accelerometers, and fundamental
modal damping ratios were estimated by applying Enhanced Frequency Decomposition Domain
(EFDD) and Subspace Stochastic Identification (SSI) methods. The vibration dose value (VDV) was
used to estimate the dynamic serviceability of floors. The results indicated that timber floors had
an impulsive-type vibration response, with fundamental damping ratios between 1.9% and 14.8%,
depending on their constructive characteristics. The in-situ floors had damping ratios between two to
three times greater than the laboratory floors due to the presence of non-structural elements. Finally,
it was possible to demonstrate that the floors with the highest damping ratios reached lower vibration
dose values and, therefore, a better dynamic serviceability performance.