Measured dynamic properties for FRP footbridges and their critical comparison against structures made of conventional construction materials

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.This paper reports new experimental data for dynamic properties (i.e. modal mass, natural frequency and damping ratio)of eight FRP composite footbridges in Europe, which helps to resolve the weakness in knowledge and understanding of dynamic properties of FRP footbridges. In addition, dynamic properties are reviewed with the results of six other FRP footbridges and 124 non-FRP footbridges built after 1991. A comprehensive comparison of these 138 sets of dynamic properties shows that FRP footbridges possess similar fundamental frequencies at the same span, but usually higher damping ratios (mean of 2.5% c.f. mean of