Experimental and Numerical Study on Dynamics of Two Footbridges with Different Shapes of Girders

The paper presents the experimental and numerical results of the dynamic system identification and verification of the behavior of two footbridges in Poland. The experimental part of the study involved vibration testing under different scenarios of human-induced load, impulse load, and excitations induced by vibration exciter. Based on the results obtained, the identification of dynamic parameters of the footbridges was performed using the peak-picking method. With the impulse load applied to both structures, determination of their natural vibration frequencies was possible. Then, based on the design drawings, detailed finite element method (FEM) models were developed, and the numerical analyses were carried out. The comparison between experimental and numerical results obtained from the modal analysis showed a good agreement. The results also indicated that both structures under investigation have the first natural bending frequency of the deck in the range of human-induced excitation. Therefore, the risk of excessive structural vibrations caused by pedestrian loading was then analysed for both structures. The vibration comfort criteria for both footbridges were checked according to Sétra guidelines. In the case of the first footbridge, the results showed that the comfort criteria are fulfilled, regardless of the type of load. For the second footbridge, it was emphasized that the structure meets the assumptions of the guidelines for vibration severability in normal use; nevertheless, it is susceptible to excitations induced by synchronized users, even in the case of a small group of pedestrians.