Multi-storey, multi-bay buildings with composite steel-deck floors under human-induced loads: The human comfort issue

• The evaluation of human comfort in buildings where rhythmic activities are performed is dealt with.
• Dynamic behaviour of different composite floors and steel members is evaluated.
• The influence of main structural features over the natural frequencies is established.
• Accelerations are compared to limiting values and some dynamic deflections presented.
• Conclusions are established concerning influence of the load pattern and the structural span.

Inadequate dynamic response of steel and concrete composite floors lead to comfort problems when human rhythmic activities are carried out. The major aspects governing this problem are discussed in this paper. Structural models representative of common buildings were loaded with two dynamic load models, and an evaluation of their behaviour focusing on the numerically predicted peak accelerations carried out. Their critical analysis and comparison to limiting values proposed in the literature allowed to establish conclusions concerning the suitability of this structural solution, and the influence of the span and load pattern when the issue of annoying vibrations is dealt with.