Simple and fast prediction of train-induced track forces, ground and building vibrations

Abstract

A simple and fast prediction scheme is presented for train-induced ground and building vibrations. Simple models such as (one-dimensional) transfer matrices are used for the vehicle–track–soil interaction and for the building–soil interaction. The wave propagation through layered soils is approximated by a frequency-dependent homogeneous half-space. The prediction is divided into the parts “emission” (excitation by railway traffic), “transmission” (wave propagation through the soil) and “immission” (transfer into a building). The link between the modules is made by the excitation force between emission and transmission, and by the free-field vibration between transmission and immission. All formula for the simple vehicle–track, soil and building models are given in this article. The behaviour of the models is demonstrated by typical examples, including the mitigation of train vibrations by elastic track elements, the low- and high-frequency cut-offs characteristic for layered soils, and the interacting soil, wall and floor resonances of multi-storey buildings. It is shown that the results of the simple prediction models can well represent the behaviour of the more time-consuming detailed models, the finite-element boundary-element models of the track, the wavenumber integrals for the soil and the three-dimensional finite-element models of the building. In addition, measurement examples are given for each part of the prediction, confirming that the methods provide reasonable results. As the prediction models are fast in calculation, many predictions can be done, for example to assess the environmental effect along a new railway line. The simple models have the additional advantage that the user needs to know only a minimum of parameters. So, the prediction is fast and user-friendly, but also theoretically and experimentally well-founded.

Keywords

Railway-induced vibration / Ground vibration / Layered soil / Building response / Excitation forces / Track and vehicle irregularities

References

[1.] Rücker W, Auersch L, Gerstberger U, Meinhardt C (2005) A practical method for the prediction of railway vibration. In: Proceedings of 6th international conference on structural dynamics (EURODYN 2005), Millpress, Rotterdam, pp 601–606

[2.] Auersch L, Gerstberger U (2006) Practical forecasting procedure for rail traffic impacts. Final report for the research project BMBF 19U0039B, BAM, Berlin (in German)

[3.] Kuppelwieser H Ziegler A. A tool for predicting vibration and structure borne noise immissions caused by railways. J Sound Vib, 1996 193 1 261-267

[4.] Madshus C Bessason B Harvik L. Prediction model for low frequency vibration from high speed railways on soft ground. J Sound Vib, 1996 193 1 195-203

[5.] With C Bahrekazemi M Bodare A. Validation of an empirical model for prediction of train-induced ground vibrations. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2006 26 11 983-990

[6.] Alcover IF Gjelstrup H Andersen J . Probabilistic empirical model for train-induced vibrations. ICE Proc Struct Build, 2015 169 8 563-573

[7.] Nelson J Saurenman H. A prediction procedure for rail transportation groundborne noise and vibration. Transp Res Rec, 1987 1143 26-35

[8.] Girardi L (1981) Vibration propagation in homogeneous or laminated soil. In: Annals of the Technical Institute of Building and Public Works, vol 397 (in French)

[9.] Jones C Block J. Prediction of ground vibration from freight trains. J Sound Vib, 1996 193 1 205-213

[10.] Rücker W (1982) Dynamic interaction of a railroad-bed with the subsoil. In: Proceedings of soil dynamics and earthquake engineering conference, Southampton, pp 435–448

[11.] Kausel E Roesset J. Stiffness matrices for layered soils. Bull Seismol Soc Am, 1981 71 6 1743-1761

[12.] Wolf J. Dynamic soil-structure interaction, 1985 Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall

[13.] Auersch L. Wave propagation in layered soil: theoretical solution in wavenumber domain and experimental results of hammer and railway traffic excitation. J Sound Vib, 1994 173 2 233-264

[14.] Maldonado M (2008) Vibrations due to the passage of a tram-experimental measurements and numerical simulations. PhD Thesis, Central School of Nantes (in French)

[15.] Lombaert G Degrande G. Ground-borne vibration due to static and dynamic axle loads of InterCity and high-speed trains. J Sound Vib, 2009 319 3–5 1036-1066

[16.] Auersch L. Static and dynamic behaviours of isolated and un-isolated ballast tracks using a fast wavenumber domain method. Arch Appl Mech, 2017 87 3 555-574

[17.] Ju S. Finite element analysis of structure borne vibration from high-speed train. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2007 27 3 259-273

[18.] Kouroussis G (2009) Modelling the vibrational effects of rail traffic on the environment, PhD thesis, University of Mons (in French)

[19.] Connolly D (2013) Ground borne vibrations from high-speed trains. Dissertation, University of Edinburgh

[20.] Auersch L. Dynamics of the railway track and the underlying soil: the boundary-element solution, theoretical results and their experimental verification. Veh Syst Dyn, 2005 43 9 671-695

[21.] Romero A (2012) Prediction, test measures and evaluation of railway traffic vibration. PhD Thesis, University of Sevilla (in Spanish)

[22.] Takemiya H, Goda K (1997) Prediction of ground vibration induced by high-speed train operation. In: Proceedings of fifth international congress on sound and vibration (ICSV), Adelaide, Australia

[23.] Hung H, Yang Y (2001) A review of researches on ground borne vibrations with emphasis on those induced by trains. In: Proceedings of the National Science Councel ROC(A), vol 25, pp 1–16

[24.] Sheng X Jones C Thompson D. Prediction of ground vibration from trains using the wavenumber finite and boundary element methods. J Sound Vib, 2006 293 3–5 575-586

[25.] Galvin P Francois S Schevenels M . A 2.5D coupled FE-BE model for the prediction of railway induced vibrations. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2010 30 12 1500-1512

[26.] Amado-Mendes P Alves CP Godinho L . 2.5 D MFS–FEM model for the prediction of vibrations due to underground railway traffic. Eng Struct, 2015 104 141-154

[27.] Connolly D Kouroussis G Woodward P . Scoping prediction of re-radiated ground-borne noise and vibration near high speed rail lines with variable soils. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2014 66 78-88

[28.] Galvin P Lopez-Mendoza D Connolly D . Scoping assessment of free-field vibrations due to railway traffic. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2018 114 598-614

[29.] Paneiro G Durão FO Silva M . Artificial neural network model for ground vibration amplitudes prediction due to light railway traffic in urban areas. Neural Comput Appl, 2018 29 11 1045-1057

[30.] Fang L Yao J Xia H. Prediction on soil-ground vibration induced by high speed moving train based on artificial neural network model. Adv Mech Eng, 2019 11 5 1-10

[31.] Yao J Xia H Zhang N . Prediction on building vibration induced by moving train based on support vector machine and wavelet analysis. J Mech Sci Technol, 2014 28 6 2065-2074

[32.] López-Mendoza D Romero A Connolly D . Scoping assessment of building vibration induced by railway traffic. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2017 93 147-161

[33.] Lurcock D, Thompson D (2017) A new empirical prediction approach for ground borne vibration in buildings. In: Proceedings of the international congress on sound and vibration, London

[34.] Cryer D (1994) Modelling of vibration in buildings with application to base isolation. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge

[35.] Hunt H. Prediction of vibration transmission from railways into buildings using models of infinite length. Veh Syst Dyn, 1995 24 234-247

[36.] Sanitate G, Talbot J (2016) A power-flow based investigation into the response of tall buildings to ground-borne vibration. In: Proceeding of the international congress on sound and vibration, Athens, pp 1–8

[37.] Chesnais C (2010) Dynamique de milieux réticulés non contreventés: application aux bâtiments. PhD thesis, École Centrale de Lyon

[38.] Zou C Moore J Sanayei M . Impedance model for estimating train-induced building vibrations. Eng Struct, 2018 172 739-750

[39.] Clot A Arcos R Romeu J. Efficient three-dimensional building-soil model for the prediction of ground-borne vibrations in buildings. J Struct Eng, 2017 143 9 04017098

[40.] Villot M, Ropars P, Jean P (2011) Modeling a building response to railway vibration using a source-receiver approach. In: De Roeck G et al (ed) Proceedings of the 8th international conference on structural dynamics, EURODYN, pp 671–675

[41.] Lopes P Alves Costa P Ferraz M . Numerical modeling of vibrations induced by railway traffic in tunnels: from the source to the nearby buildings. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng, 2014 61–62 269-285

[42.] Hussein M Hunt H Kuo K . The use of sub-modelling technique to calculate vibration in buildings from underground railways. J. Rail Rapid Transit, 2015 229 3 303-314

[43.] Van den Broeck P (2001) A prediction model for ground-borne vibrations due to railway traffic. PhD thesis, KU Leuven

[44.] Triepaichajonsak N (2012) The influence of various excitation mechanisms on ground vibration from trains. PhD thesis, University of Southampton

[45.] Alves Costa P (2011) Vibrations of the mass transit system: numerical modelling and experimental validation. PhD thesis, University of Porto (in Portuguese)

[46.] Yokoyama H Izumi Y Watanabe T. A numerical simulation method for ground and building vibration based on three dimensional dynamic analysis. Q Rep Railw Tech Res Inst, 2016 57 2 151-157

[47.] Lombaert G, Degrande G, François S et al (2015) Ground-borne vibration due to railway traffic: a review of excitation mechanisms, prediction methods and mitigation measures. In: Notes on numerical fluid mechanics and multidisciplinary design, Springer, Berlin, pp 253–288

[48.] Connolly D Kouroussis G Laghrouche O . Benchmarking railway vibrations: track, vehicle, ground and building effects. Constr Build Mater, 2015 92 64-81

[49.] Thompson D Kouroussis G Ntotsios E. Modelling, simulation and evaluation of ground vibration caused by rail vehicles. Veh Syst Dyn, 2019 57 7 936-983

[50.] Auersch L. Theoretical and experimental excitation force spectra for railway induced ground vibration: vehicle-track soil interaction, irregularities and soil measurements. Veh Syst Dyn, 2010 48 2 235-261

[51.] Auersch L (2009) Vehicle dynamics and dynamic excitation forces of railway induced ground vibration. In: Proceedings of the 21st international symposium on dynamics of vehicles on roads and tracks, KTH Stockholm (CD-ROM), pp 1–12

[52.] Auersch L. 2- and 3-dimensional methods for the assessment of ballast mats, ballast plates and other isolators of railway vibration. Int J Acoust Vib, 2006 11 4 167-176

[53.] Auersch L Said S Müller R. Measurements on the vehicle-track interaction and the excitation of railway-induced ground vibration. Procedia Eng, 2017 199 2615-2620

[54.] Auersch L. The excitation of ground vibration by rail traffic: theory of vehicle-track-soil interaction and measurements on high-speed lines. J Sound Vib, 2005 284 1–2 103-132

[55.] Auersch L Said S. Comparison of different dispersion evaluation methods and a case history with the inversion to a soil model, related admittance functions, and the prediction of train induced ground vibration. J Near Surf Geophys, 2015 13 127-142

[56.] Auersch L. Dynamic stiffness of foundations on inhomogeneous soils for a realistic prediction of the vertical building resonance. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng, 2008 134 3 328-340

[57.] Auersch L. Building response due to ground vibration – simple prediction model based on experience with detailed models and measurements. Int J Acoust Vibr, 2010 15 3 101-112

[58.] Auersch L, Ziemens S (2020) The response of different buildings to free-field excitation: a study using detailed finite element models. In: Papadrakakis M, Fragiadakis M, Papadimitriou C (eds) EURODYN 2020 XI international conference on structural dynamics, Athens

[59.] Auersch L Said S Schmid W . Vibrations in construction: measurement results on different buildings and a simple calculation of foundation, wall and ceiling vibrations. Bauingenieur, 2004 79 185-192