Serviceability assessment of footbridges via interval analysis

This paper studies serviceability assessment of footbridges through a non-deterministic approach. Both the parameters defining pedestrian-induced loading and the structural dynamic properties are uncertain quantities, and they can be characterized through possible ranges of variation. Thus, a suitable tool for taking uncertainties into account is interval analysis. In this paper, the improved interval analysis is applied together with classical optimization that allows obtaining the bounds of the spectral moments of the response, of the cumulative distribution function of the maximum footbridge acceleration, and of the expected value of the maximum acceleration. Based on this approach, an interval of probability of reaching a suitable comfort level can be estimated.