Walking load model considering damping and energy compensation strategy

This paper introduces an improved walking load model contemplating the influence of damping. The model employs the Hunt-Crossley model to guarantee the ground reaction forces generated when the support leg interfaces with the ground is zero. The model’s energetic compensation is realized by adjusting the leg’s rigidity. Lagrange’s equation is utilized to establish the equations of motion. To verify the accuracy of the proposed model, an intelligent optimization algorithm is employed to identify the initial parameters. The model simulated ground reaction forces are compared well with the measured ones. The model parameters are compared between the proposed ant-lion optimization algorithm and three other walking load models for simulating pedestrian walking loads. The parametric analysis reveals that: the walking duration increases with increasing roller radius and decreases with increasing walking speed and leg stiffness, and the peak ground reaction forces increase with increasing leg stiffness, damping ratio, walking speed, and impact angle and decrease with increasing roller radius. The proposed model is suitable for accurate prediction of the ground reaction forces induced from human walking and is a good way for simulating human-induced vibrations.