A New Annoyance-based Vibration Comfort Design Theory On Engineering Structures

Vibration discomfort arise in modern infrastructures due to they are commonly designed light in mass and less in stiffness and damping. Researches in this field are of very significant in improving current structural design methods and would greatly contribute to reliability theory. A theory annoyance model for structural vibration serviceability design is proposed in this research on the basis of structural dynamics,reliability theory and psychophysiology methods. The aim of the research is to propose a newly quantified annoyance method to replace the commonly used semi-quantified method for vibration serviceability design.Annoyance rate (AR) and AR-based operations,i.e. expected AR (EAR) and average AR (AAR),consist the major contents of the AR model. The basis of AR model was complementally introduced in Chapter 3 and through which different AR curves for several types of application purposes were suggested. Another constituent of AR model,operations of EAR and AAR were defined based on a simple occupant counting and AR curves. In the theory of AR model,all vibration discomfort problems can be accounted by the calculation of AR,EAR and AAR. AR can be used for such simple conditions that vibration intensity is deterministic and invariant with locations. EAR is specially good at in dealing with such problems as vibration intensity is probability distributed while AAR has its advantage in coping those complexity large systems that vibration intensity is varied from location to location. To exhibit the advantages of AR model,several problems commonly existed in the current design methods were discussed mean while the AR solutions for these problems were suggested. In the last part of this chapter,vibration serviceability-based optimization problems were discussed and mathematical models for these problems together with their solution methods were suggested.Chapter 4 included three major contents. (1) The maximum acceleration response spectrum method,which presented a simplified method to evaluation long-span floor vibration response under pedestrian exciting. (2) An introduction of AR model application to long-span floor serviceability design and suggested design formulations for practical use. (3) Analysis of serviceability-base floor optimization and corresponding solution curves.Chapter 5 discussed the application of AR model in serviceability design of wind-induced vibration of high rise building. The discussion includes four parts. (1) A detail analysis of the uncertainties existed in current design codes was carried out,which showed that the uncertainties in the serviceability design method played a major role and these uncertainties might result a bias of 80%. Compared with these,the bias due to uncertainties in the parameters is significantly less. (2) The response characteristics of wind-induced vibration under uncertain parameters were analyzed,which suggested a simplified method for evaluating mean and standard variance of acceleration responses. Compared with the results given by a FORM and FOSM method,the suggested methods can give a more precise estimation. (3) Reliability analysis of vibration discomfort of wind-excited buildings was carried out,which presented a reliability-base design formulation that accounted for theuncertainties existed in the dynamic parameters,human response and design methods. (4) The serviceability-based optimization of tall building was also carried in the chapter and optimization methods and strategies were proposed.The application of AR model in fixed offshore platform was discussed in chapter 6 and chapter 7,which included problems of vibrations induced by sea wave and vibrations induced by sea ice. The discussion gave below conclusions. (1) A proper selection of wave spectrum is very important in vibration serviceability design of a platform. (2) The service life of structure should be considered in the serviceability design. (3) Intensity location of sea ice should be considered in the serviceability design of ice-induced vibration.This dissertat...