Design of long-span lightweight timber floors subject to walking excitations: a case study

Lightweight timber construction is popular in buildings with two or more storeys in Australia. The floors are made of a floorboard supported on joists or trusses. Recently, the sector is moving towards multi-storey construction of different building classes with different floor usages and shared tenancy. Thus, a need for high performing lightweight floor systems becomes urgent. The current vibration control criteriain the Australian standard recommends limitingstatic deflection, which is a coarse method and does not necessarily guarantee satisfactory performance.In the current study, vibration performance of a 6m×6m floor system with particleboard flange and trusswebs is investigated under single walker excitations and at different walking frequencies. The vibration responses are compared to the predictions and performance criteria recommended in international standards and guidelines. The results show inconsistencies in the calculated levels of acceptance from different sourcesusing simplified expressions and more rigorous methods of analysis. This highlights the significance of the need for further research to developa harmonised method of analysis that can be used by manufacturers and engineers in Australia to confidently design floors for vibrations.