Title page for ETD etd-05192008-160801

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Sanchez, Telmo Andres

Author's Email Address

andres@vt.edu

URN

etd-05192008-160801

Title

EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY OF VIBRATIONS IN LONG SPAN DECK FLOOR SYSTEMS

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Dr. Thomas M. Murray	Committee Chair
Dr. Finley A. Charney	Committee Member
Dr. W. Samuel Easterling	Committee Member

Keywords

Long Span Deck Floor Systems
Floor Vibrations
Natural Frequency
Accelerations

Date of Defense

2008-04-29

Availability

restricted

Abstract

Experimental and analytical research was conducted to address the vibration properties of Long Span Deck Floor Systems (LSDFS). The research comprised three stages. In the first part, experimental in-situ tests were conducted on thirteen bays of buildings under construction. The natural frequencies and acceleration responses were captured to observe the vibration behavior of the tested floors.
In the second part, a laboratory footbridge was constructed to determine the fixity
level attained at the supports when a LSDFS is supported by CMU walls. For this
purpose, the footbridge was tested with three support conditions, and a number of
experiments were carried out to determine the dynamic properties of the structure. Static
tests using both point and distributed loadings were conducted to measure the deflections
at the footbridge midspan. The static test results were compared to the theoretical
deflections for a pinned-end beam and a fixed-end beam. Dynamic tests using
experimental modal analysis techniques were conducted to determine the natural
frequencies and mode shapes of the structure. The measured fundamental natural
frequency of the footbridge was compared to the frequencies calculated for a simply
supported beam and a beam with fixed ends, to determine the degree of fixity attained in
the connection between the LSDFS and the supporting walls.
In the last part of the research, three analytical procedures to predict modal
characteristics of long span deck floor systems are studied. Floor frequencies are calculated using finite element analyses. Two design guides for floor vibration analysis
were used to calculate natural frequencies and response accelerations. The predicted
results obtained from the analytical methods are compared to the experimental results to
determine their accuracy. Recommendations for the use of the analytical methods are
provided.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_1.pdf	181.07 Kb	00:00:50	00:00:25	00:00:22	00:00:11	< 00:00:01
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_2.pdf	6.67 Mb	00:30:52	00:15:52	00:13:53	00:06:56	00:00:35
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_3.pdf	1.14 Mb	00:05:16	00:02:43	00:02:22	00:01:11	00:00:06
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_4.pdf	983.65 Kb	00:04:33	00:02:20	00:02:02	00:01:01	00:00:05
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_5.pdf	7.65 Mb	00:35:24	00:18:12	00:15:56	00:07:58	00:00:40
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_6.pdf	4.25 Mb	00:19:40	00:10:07	00:08:51	00:04:25	00:00:22
	SANCHEZ_Thesis_7.pdf	537.34 Kb	00:02:29	00:01:16	00:01:07	00:00:33	00:00:02

indicates that a file or directory is accessible from the Virginia Tech campus network only.