Characterisation of walking loads by 3D inertial motion tracking

The present contribution analyses the walking behaviour of pedestrians in situ by 3D inertial motion tracking. The technique is first tested in laboratory experiments with simultaneous registration of the ground reaction forces. The registered motion of the pedestrian allows for the identification of stride-to-stride variations, which is usually disregarded in the simulation of walking forces. Subsequently, motion tracking is used to register the walking behaviour of (groups of) pedestrians during in situ measurements on a footbridge. The calibrated numerical model of the structure and the information gathered using the motion tracking system enables detailed simulation of the step-by-step pedestrian induced vibrations. Accounting for the in situ identified walking variability of the test-subjects leads to a significantly improved agreement between the measured and the simulated structural response.