ABSTRACT
Figure 1 clearly shows that the GFRP footbridges (AB, EB, MB) exhibit several magnitudes higher vibration response for the same dynamic loads (acceleration per unit harmonic force). Given that vibration response worsens when the natural frequencies lie in the harmonic ranges excitable by human activity such as walking (i.e. grey areas in Figure 1), these highly responsive footbridges may have vibration
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Pultruded GFRP has attracted the interest of researchers in structural engineering since the 1980s because of its superior properties such as high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent durability, and ease of manufacture (Zi et al. 2008). These excellent attributes of GFRP have been the motivation behind GFRP application in footbridges. However, GFRP footbridge structures are lighter than conventional footbridges, which can make them highly sensitive to dynamic loading. In turn, this can make GFRP footbridges susceptible to human-induced vibrations. Presently, the knowledge of their vibration performance under humaninduced loads is very limited, and there is little published work on the subject.
