Experimental Derivation of Dynamic Load Factor for Transparent Glass Pedestrian Systems

The vibration performance assessment of pedestrian structures attracts, since decades, the attention of several research studies. In this paper, the attention is focused on the experimental vibration analysis of in-service structural glass assemblies that are used to take part in in-service pedestrian systems. In most of cases, these systems are characterized by low mass, low frequency and high sensitivity to operational conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.). Non-destructive in-field experimental methods are specifically used to analyse and quantify the human-induced reaction forces and the corresponding dynamic load factor (DLF). To this aim, body centre of mass (CoM) experimental measurements are recorded for a single pedestrian during random normal walks. As shown, in case of structural glass pedestrian systems that are characterized by relatively small mass compared to pedestrian and (often) low vibration frequency, as well as intrinsic transparency, marked variations can be expected in typical dynamic behaviours and DLF trends, when compared to literature experimental derivations on opaque floors.