A parametric study of composite footbridges under pedestrian walking loads

This paper presents a realistic load model developed to incorporate the effects induced by people walking in the dynamical response of footbridges. The effect of the human heel was also incorporated in the dynamical load representation. The investigated structural model was based on several footbridges, with main spans varying from 10 to 35 m. The proposed computational model adopted the usual mesh refinement techniques present in finite element method simulations. The results obtained throughout the investigation showed that the design standards could produce unsafe values since they are based on excessively simplified load models. Hence it was detected that this type of structure can reach high vibration levels that can compromise the footbridge user’s comfort and especially its safety.