Effective impulse model for prediction of vibration response of high-frequency steel staircases

• A critical review of the existing footfall force models for use in high-frequency floors or staircases
• Evaluation of existing models based on the experimental data from the test of full-scale staircase specimens
• Proposal of new effective impulse model for accurate vibration response predictions of high-frequency steel staircases

Nowadays the use of steel staircases is increasing more and more even in reinforced concrete building structures because of the many advantages associated with dry construction. Typical steel staircases often exhibit high-frequency and relatively low-damping characteristics. In addition, they are subjected to footfall forces whose magnitude and pace may be quite different from those caused by walking on a building floor. However, design guides for such high-frequency steel staircases are quite limited. In this study, the effective impulse model is proposed based on full-scale vibration tests that can be used to predict the vibration response of high-frequency steel staircases. It is shown that the proposed model gives more consistent and more accurate predictions than existing comparable methods over the pace frequency range of 1.4 Hz to 4.5 Hz expected in staircases.