Design of floors for vibration quiz

Please answer the following 10 multiple choice questions, then click 'submit' to check the result. The pass mark for a CPD certificate is 8 out of 10, and you may retake the quiz as many times as you wish, but the questions will vary! Please note that one, two, three or all of the possible answers presented for each question may be right, and to gain a mark for that question all correct answers must be identified.

Good luck

Design of floors for vibration

Which statement below does NOT describe a characteristic of a low frequency floor?

Has a fundamental frequency greater than 3 Hz but less than 10Hz
Exhibits a near resonant response
Both steady state and transient response must be checked
Has a fundamental frequency greater than 10Hz

The response factor of a floor is:

The peak acceleration of the floor
The peak acceleration of the floor divided by the base value
The root mean square (rms) acceleration of the floor
The rms acceleration of the floor divided by the base value (0.005 for z-axis vibrations)

What is a reasonable frequency range caused by walking?

2 Hz to 3 Hz
1 Hz to 2 Hz
2.8 Hz to 3.2 Hz
1.8 Hz to 2.2 Hz

Why do we calculate the natural frequency of a floor system? (tick all that apply)

To avoid resonant behaviour of the floor plate
To ensure that any dynamic effects do not induce loads greater than the static loads for which the floor plate has been designed
To ensure that the system frequency is sufficiently greater than the forcing or walking pace frequency
To obtain a qualitative prediction of the serviceability performance of the floor plate

Where is the magnitude of damping of most importance?

Floors with low frequency
Floors with low frequency
Resonant floors
Floors subject to group activities

Human perception to vibration depends on the direction of incidence of the acceleration relative to the human body. In the basicentric coordinate system, the z-axis corresponds to the direction of the human spine. In which of the situations below is the human body more sensitive to vibration?

Walking (z-axis perpendicular to the floor)
Lying down (z-axis parallel to the floor)
Sitting
Standing

When assessing vibrations in a floor, appropriate acceptance criteria can be referenced from where (more than one may apply)?

BS 5950: Structural use of steelwork in building
BS 6472: Guide to evaluation of human exposure to vibration in buildings
SCI publication P354 “Design of Floors for Vibration: a New Approach”
BS 6399: Loadings for buildings

For a traditional composite floor system, comprising a slab continuous over a number of secondary beams that in turn are supported by primary beams, what two mode shapes should the designer consider if analysing by hand?

Slab mode
Secondary beam mode
Simply supported beam mode
Primary beam mode

An engineer has designed a floor plate to a response factor of 7. The floor comprises secondary beams at 3m centres acting compositely with a 140mm composite deck. The secondary beam has a frequency of 4.5Hz. The main contractor is having difficulty in getting materials into what is a congested site, and has asked if it would be acceptable to replace the composite deck with a lightweight timber joist floor. He submits calculations that demonstrate that the same beam acting non-compositely is perfectly adequate in terms of strength, and achieves the same frequency of 4.5Hz due to a reduction in dead load of 75%. How should the engineer respond?

As long as the beam is satisfactory in terms of strength and the beam frequency remains the same or higher, then that proposal is perfectly acceptable.
Whilst your calculations demonstrate that the beam can support the change in loads, and that both the beam and system frequency are satisfactory, I have concerns about the vibration performance of the floor. The dead load of the floor construction has been reduced by 75%. Newton’s second law (acceleration = Force/Mass) suggests a four fold increase in the accelerations due to this significant reduction in dead load. The response factor has gone up from 7 to 28, which is well in excess of current practice.
No, the drawings clearly state the form of construction required.
Your proposal is acceptable provided you can offer a saving to the Client and accept design liability for your proposals.

Which of the statements below are true with respect to the Variable Dose Value (VDV) method?

VDV’s can be used for hospital operating theatres
They relate the response factor or multiplying factor to the intermittency of vibration
VDV’s are independent of walking path length
Give the number of times that an activity can take place in a given exposure period