Grandstands used for pop concerts - the interaction between mechanics concepts and structural problems
Dr T. Ji
UMIST
Grandstands are built for sports events, but they may also be used for
pop concerts nowadays in order to meet public requirements and to
generate new revenue. The dynamic loads induced by crowds at pop
concerts can be significant and resonance is likely to occur at these
events. The safety of grandstands used for pop concerts is of a
practical and important issue in engineering design.
This talk will summarise the current understanding and some research
work on dynamics problems in the design of grandstands. Theoretical
and experimental investigations have been conducted on human actions
on structures, on the dynamic behaviour of permanent and temporary
grandstands and on grandstand response to crowd loading. The talk
will emphasise on the interaction between mechanics concepts and
structural problems in this investigation. New mechanics concepts have
been abstracted from practical structural problems and one of them may
lead to establishing a new subject. On the other hand, new methods,
which are developed based on these concepts, are applied to designing
for safety of grandstands and to solving other problems. Some of the
applications may have impact beyond the traditional boundaries of
Structural Engineering.
