Abstract
With the resent development of strong, light structural materials, designs calling for long spans have become common. Because of this, floor structures have become more suscepible to external and internal sources of vibration. The relationship between sense evaluation and performance evaluation in a structural design is not so clear, that a highly advanced system of floor vibration analysis has not yet been fully exploited. In terms of performance evaluation, a floor must be certified sound and trouble-free in order to contribute to a good residential or office environment. This paper describes a reassessment of the relationship between (a) conventional studies which have been made indepenently, and (b) a guide for vibration criteria. The object is to establish vibration criteria for a variety of purposes. The floor vibration criteria are composed of continuous vibration, V1 and V2, and impulsive vibration (from footsteps) V3 (floor damping ratio : 3 %) and 1/4 (floor damping ratio : 6 %). In order to verify vibration criteria, actual data concerning both sound, and unsatisfactory floors were analyzed by bivariate discrimination analysis. A boundry value was dividing "good" floors from "bad" floors was established. It was determined by this analysis that the boundry value was almost the same as vibration V2 at 8 Hz or over. Accordingly, it was placed between V1 and V2 at 5-8 Hz. This boundary value is an appropriate vibration criterion for practical use. The value of the impulsive vibration (V3) can be viewed as useful in quantitative studies.
