Development of a methodology for the inverse identification of crowd-induced loading.

For slender and lightweight structures, vibration serviceability is a matter of growing concern, often constituting the critical design requirement. In recent years, special interest emerged for civil structures where the dynamic performance is governed by crowd-induced loading (footbridges, stadia, large span floors,…). Currently, designers are forced to rely on – what are assumed to be ‘conservative’ – equivalent load models, upscaled from single-person force measurements. This concern is strengthened by the influence of various human-structure interaction (HSI) phenomena which are, to date, not well-understood. This urges to develop techniques to measure and evaluate HSI-effects and to improve prediction models to allow for optimal structural designs and retrofitting. For this purpose, in situ observations are essential as they are the only way to obtain detailed and accurate information on representative operational loading data. Leveraged by the expertise acquired during my earlier research on human-induced loading, the aim of this project proposal is to reconstruct the unknown excitation forces from the measured responses of the supporting structure, using inverse methods. The proposed innovative approach will allow for the identification of the pertinent features of crowd-induced loading and the assessment of various HSI-effects, thereby providing the necessary input for the further development and improvement of load models and design procedures.