A comparative study on different walking load models

Excessive vibrations can occur in long-span structures such as floors or footbridges due to occupant?s daily activity like walking and cause a so-called vibration serviceability issue. Since 1970s, researchers have proposed many human walking load models, and some of them have even been adopted by major design guidelines. Despite their wide applications in structural vibration serviceability problems, differences between these models in predicting structural responses are not clear. This paper collects 19 popular walking load models and compares their effects on structure?s responses when subjected to the human walking loads. Model parameters are first compared among all these models including orders of components, dynamic load factors, phase angles and function forms. The responses of a single-degree-of-freedom system with various natural frequencies to the 19 load models are then calculated and compared in terms of peak values and root mean square values. Case studies on simulated structures and an existing long-span floor are further presented. Comparisons between predicted responses, guideline requirements and field measurements are conducted. All the results demonstrate that the differences among all the models are significant, indicating that in a practical design, choosing a proper walking load model is crucial for the structure?s vibration serviceability assessment.