Professor John Macdonald

Research summary

Structural dynamics

Wind engineering

Human-induced vibrations

Long-span bridges

Cable structures

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Biography

I graduated from Cambridge University in Engineering Science with first class honours and was awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers’ student prize for Cambridge. After 4 years in industry with Scott Wilson (now part of AECOM), principally working in structural design, I came to the University of Bristol as a Research Assistant in structural dynamics.

My PhD was based on full-scale dynamic measurements of the Second Severn Crossing cable-stayed bridge. Part of this work directly contributed to a vibration mitigation solution for the bridge, which had experienced large amplitude vortex-induced vibrations when first constructed. A journal paper describing this work ...

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Selected publications

• Macdonald, J, 2009, ‘Lateral excitation of bridges by balancing pedestrians’. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol 465., pp. 1055 - 1073
• Bocian, M, Macdonald, JHG, Burn, JF & Redmill, D, 2015, ‘Experimental identification of the behaviour of and lateral forces from freely-walking pedestrians on laterally oscillating structures in a virtual reality environment’. Engineering Structures, vol 105., pp. 62-76

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View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system