Vibration serviceability performance of timber floors

Vibration serviceability of timber floors is becoming increasingly relevant due to their increased long-span applications in pure timber and hybrid structures. As a serviceability limit state, the check of acceptable floor vibrations is part of some current timber design standards. However, a universal agreement on acceptance levels and design procedures has not been achieved. This paper gives an overview of traditional and recent design approaches for floor vibrations, with those approaches intended to allow engineers to implement design strategies that produce floors that perform acceptably under service conditions. The subsequent discussion does not catalogue all relevant technical literature, information in design manuals and aids, nor list all relevant design code rules related to vibration serviceability of timber floors. Instead what is written is intended to convey and critique the state of background knowledge, design recommendation and code rules using illustrative examples from the literature. The objective is to contribute to resolution of debate about control of floor response characteristics by engineering design methods.