ABSTRACT
The floor vibration caused by human daily motion such as walking is one of the most influential factor to make the residential environment discomfortable and uneasy. So the property of the vibration is usually very complicated, it is difficult to evaluate the vibration according to the previous studies or guidelines based on human sensation to the simple sinusoidal vibration. In this study, the original evaluation method was established. At first, the load applied to the floor by human motion was measured. The load could be analyzed into two factors, the dynamic load by a foot landing, and the impacting load by a heel strike. Secondly, using sample floors of various vibration characteristics, the sensory test was carried out. From the relationship between the psychological scale constructed by the sensory test and the sample floor vibration, it was quantitatively confirmed that the human evaluation was influenced by two factors, the magnitude of the dynamic displacement, and the duration of the damping vibration generated by the impacting load. Based on this knowledge, the physical value VI(2) which consisted of the magnitude and the duration was proposed as the evaluation index. Next, three kinds of apparatus were developed to measure VI(2). These apparatus simulated the load by a heel strike or a foot landing, and vibration characteristics of human body. From the comparison with the vibration by human motion, it was made clear that the apparatus could reproduce the same vibration. Finally, the evaluation method was established which was to measure VI(2) using these apparatus and to evaluate the floor according to VI(2). Furthermore, in this study, the criterion to prevent the complaint from occupants was presented. The criterion, described by VI(2), was proposed from the result of the evaluation according to the original method on actual house floors which had (had not) complained.
