Evaluation perception of wind-induced vibration in buildings

Vibration perception tests are conducted for a wide range of vibration frequencies for various buildings from low-rise residential houses to high-rise buildings. The tests are basically conducted for sitting posture, fore-and-aft direction, uniaxial and sinusoidal vibrations. Additional experiments examining effects of body postures, vibration modes and randomness are, however, also conducted. Variations of individual perception thresholds are very significant and the results are evaluated in a probabilistic manner. A probabilistic perception threshold in the frequency range 0·125– 6·0 Hz is then proposed for practical design of buildings to assess their habitability to vibration. The present paper also explains and gives a commentary on the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) Guidelines for the Evaluation of Habitability to Building Vibration (2004). In particular, it introduces two different methods for evaluating building habitability using the AIJ Guidelines.