Study on vibration performance and comfort of glulam beam and deck floor

Abstract

This paper presents the dynamic characteristics of the glued-laminated-timber (glulam) floor within China's tallest timber office building and establishes a Finite Element (FE) model. The veracity of the FE model is substantiated through experimental validation. The investigation delves into the impact of variations in the dimensions of Reinforced Ribbed Wood Beams (RRTB) on floor vibration characteristics and assesses the comfort index. Both Ambient Vibration Test (AVT) and human walking tests were carried out on the specific floor under scrutiny. The results show that the RRTB significantly increase the overall stiffness of the floor, and change the natural frequency and modal vibration shape of the floor. The thickness of the RRTB exerts a more pronounced impact on the dynamic characteristics of the floor in comparison to its width. The static deflection of the floor proves to be the most responsive parameter to alterations in the size of the RRTB, compared to the fundamental frequency and maximum displacement. For high-rise glulam building floors, AVT can be effectively applied to fundamental frequency testing; Even if the fundamental frequency of the floor meets the comfort index, supplementary acceleration and velocity amplitude tests remain imperative.