Precast, prestressed concrete floors in office, residential and retail buildings are usually found to be satisfactory from a vibration performance viewpoint. Nevertheless, such floors may occasionally undergo detectable oscillations. Furthermore, with advances in concrete technology, the strength and stiffness of floors are optimized, leading to more flexible structures. It is possible that vibration criteria may then govern floor design. Before determining performance and floor acceptability, human tolerance of vibration must be defined and the human comfort factor must be related to some predictable dynamic parameters of the system. These relationships are examined with regard to acceleration, oscillation frequency, amplitude and damping. It is concluded that the double tee cross sections in common use today are not susceptible to vibration problems under normal conditions.
