On Ground and Structural Vibrations Related to Railway Traffic
Doctoral thesis, 2000

The continuous development and integration of railway infrastructure, especially within urban areas, can cause ground and building vibrations to reach levels that bring discomfort to people. The growing risk of damage to buildings located in areas prone to ground vibration should not be underestimated. Trains with greater axle loads and increased speeds generate higher vibration levels. When trying to reduce and to control these problems, as well as to gain acceptance for new solutions, the ability to predict ground and structural vibrations from railway trains is vital. Experimental and theoretical investigations were carried out to characterize and explain low-frequency ground and structural vibrations related to railway traffic. Multi-channel measurements of ground vibrations from railway traffic were made, from which the displacement field from a passing train was visualized. In aural vibrations from railway traffic, it was concluded that onlyffectively transmitted into a building foundation. Structuralted to railway traffic were measured on a specially designed and constructed building structure with a slab-on-grade foundation. It was foundre was subjected to loading by a wave field slightly inclined to the railway track normal. A model to calculate the low-frequency spectral components of ground vibrations from passing trains is proposed. The model includes the quasi-static component of the train/track load, while the railway track is assumed to act as a Timoshenko beam on a half-space. The model is verified against a series of measurements; the longer the train is, the better the resemblance between numerical and experimental data. Structural vibrations related to railway traffic were studied numerically. The ground vibration model was used to simulate the low-frequency ground vibrations from railway traffic. A combination of the finite element the consistent infinitesimal finite element cell method was used; the latter method was chosen to model the supporting soil. Good resemblance between simulations and measurements was obtained.

wave propagation

wave field excitation

soil structure interaction

structural vibration

ground vibration

traffic vibration

Author

Johan O. Jonsson

Chalmers, Department of Structural Engineering

Subject Categories

Civil Engineering

ISBN

91-7197-920-4

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 1545

Publ. - Chalmers tekniska högskola, Institutionen för konstruktionsteknik, Stål- och träbyggnad. S: 00:6

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Created

10/8/2017