Design Guide for Floor Vibrations

In the past, the demand for flexible use of commercial and administrative buildings was leading to a request for floors with long spans. These expectations have been met by the development of innovative construction techniques, e.g. composite floor systems as well as pre-stressed hollow core slabs. This trend has been supported further by the use of modern, high strength materials. Hence serviceability criteria, such as deflection limits and the vibration behaviour, define in the first instance the design of these new, slender constructions. While deflection limits are regulated in the relevant standards, the vibration comfort of slabs is not clearly defined. A directed design with regard to floor vibrations is presently not possible. In addition, a generally accepted method for the reliable prediction of the action effects for vibrations, in general expressed in accelerations or velocities, are not available. This paper presents a design guide comprehending a simple design method for floors in reference to human induced vibrations [1]. Comfort criteria for vibrations are defined in relation to the use of the floor. Further a simple design method for prediction of vibration intensity of floors due to human induced vibrations to check these criteria is introduced. The content of this work has been developed and validated in the scope of the RFCS-project “Vibrations of Floors” [2].