In previous Footbridge Conferences, the focus of researchers has been on the representation of pedestrian actions (vertical and lateral) to design footbridges, on the proposal of methodologies for the analysis in service of these structures and on the description of the serviceability response of particular footbridges. Nonetheless, none of these research works have been focused on the magnitude of the serviceability response of footbridges according to its structural type.

This paper characterises the response of footbridges with stayed cables as main structural type. Based on a compiled dataset of cable-stayed footbridges (developed for this research work), the paper presents the geometrical and structural characteristics of a footbridge that can be regarded as representative of this structural type. Considering the best methodologies available for the assessment of its response in vertical and lateral direction, the paper describes the magnitude of the serviceability performance of this bridge under a wide range of pedestrian scenarios. This description familiarises designers at early stages of their design with the order of magnitude of the serviceability response of cable-stayed footbridges with an arrangement similar to that commonly used for this structural type.