Vibration serviceability of footbridges in crowded conditions: crowd dynamics simulations vs guidelines’ predictions

Vibration serviceability assessment in crowded conditions requires a reliable human-induced loading model taking into account pedestrian interaction. Current guidelines provide simplified procedures to determine the maximum dynamic response based on very simplified loading models. The main objective of this paper is to assess the reliability of current guidelines for vibration serviceability assessment of footbridges. With this aim, an extensive campaign of numerical simulations of bidirectional pedestrian traffic is carried out through an agent-based model, considering variable pedestrian densities and deck widths. The results of numerical simulations are first compared against the experiments available in the literature in terms of fundamental diagram of the mean walking speed as a function of pedestrian density. Then, starting from numerical simulations, the dynamic response of a class of footbridges is estimated numerically and compared with guidelines’ predictions in order to assess their reliability.