Pedestrian-Induced Bridge Vibration Driven by Behavioral Preferences

Modern lightweight pedestrian bridges exhibit heightened susceptibility to human-induced vibration due to low natural frequencies and high flexibility. This study integrates behavioral science to explore pedestrian–structure coupling, developing a novel bidirectional biomechanical model capturing vertical/lateral movements. Body dynamics were solved iteratively. Concurrently, an agent-based cellular automata model embedded pedestrian social attributes and mutual exclusion to simulate crowd flow. Coupling these with finite element bridge analysis simulated vibration responses. Experimental validation confirms the model’s validity. This work advances a behavioral science perspective for mechanistically understanding pedestrian-induced vibration in flexible bridges, thereby contributing to strategies for mitigating vibration-induced disasters like structural damage or crowd panic.