Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S53565/01
Title:	Human Structure Interaction in Cantilever Grandstands
Principal Investigator:	Blakeborough, Professor A
Other Investigators:	Williams, Professor M
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Engineering Science
Organisation:	University of Oxford
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 September 2004	Ends:	31 August 2007	Value (£):	245,332
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Civil Engineering Materials Structural Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Construction
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
This project will provide urgently needed data and numerical models of the dynamic effects of human occupants on grandstands. A section of raked grandstand sufficient to support 24 occupants will be built and tested at full scale in the laboratory. Extensive tests will be performed to determine the loads that crowds impose on a grandstand under a wide variety of conditions. A key factor influencing the loading is the extent to which grandstand occupants can synchronise their motions, and this in turn is affected by the presence of external stimuli such as music, visual signals or movement of the structure. The influence of all these stimuli, including combinations, will be studied in detail. For tests involving movement of the structure, use will be made of the applicants' unique real-time substructure testing method, in which the behaviour of an entire structure is simulated in real time by embedding a laboratory model of part of the structure into a numerical model of the remainder. Besides giving much-needed practical guidance to designers, the output from these tests will be used in the development of a numerical model of crowd synchronisation which will make a valuable contribution to the wider field of human-structure interaction. Lastly, additional tests will be performed to establish another key design parameter - the effective mass that occupants contribute to the structure.
Key Findings
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Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.ox.ac.uk