Experimental study of human-induced effects on floor slab of an ancient Tibetan structure

With the opening of ancient Tibetan structures to visitors worldwide, human load has become the principal live load on these structures. This project studies the properties of the floor structure of an ancient Tibetan building and its behavior under human-induced load effects. Tests were conducted with static and dynamic crowd load, including stepping and jogging by people at a fixed position. The tests show that the floor structure does not behave as a continuous slab. It takes the load from local areas with minimal load transference properties. The acceleration response shows significant peaks when the footstep frequency is close to the natural frequency of the structure, but the human jogging excitation frequency does not have any obvious effect on the structural response. The elastic modulus of the Agatu material is estimated to be close to zero from the measured natural frequency of the slab. The Agatu material is concluded to be a discrete compacted material with insignificant contribution to the structural rigidity of the floor slab.