Influence of pedestrian gait coordination on dynamic response of bridges

The synchronisation of pedestrians’ footsteps with the structural motion and with one another has long been a key consideration in the modelling of pedestrian actions on bridges. However, recent research suggests that pedestrian-to-pedestrian interaction (PPI) is much more subtle, and that the currently available design guidelines greatly oversimplify its effect. Consequently, the question of whether PPI can independently trigger structural instability remains unanswered. To address this issue, this paper presents a novel data-driven model of pedestrian stepping behaviour. This model captures the dependence of stepping frequency on walking speed, random variability in stepping frequency, and gait coordination patterns which are dependent on the position of pedestrians relative to one another. An exploratory study is conducted on the dynamic response of a footbridge to assess the significance of PPI. For this purpose, the pedestrian stepping model is combined with a walking crowd model based on visually guided locomotion principles and a model of pedestrian foot forces.