Vibrations induced by the passage of trains at various speeds and their effect on the structural response of buildings - an experimental and numerical analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a selection of vibration measurement results and analyses performed with regard to their harmfulness to residential buildings. The first part of the paper refers to the analysis of railway vibrations measured in situ at the foundation level of residential building. These vibration records were then used to assess the harmfulness of vibrations relating to each train speed. Assessment of the vibration harmfulness of the building was performed with an indicator of the perceptibility of vibration through a structure (WODB), according to the Polish standard. The second part of the study refers to the creation of dynamic models of buildings with the use of the ‘Diana’ software program and analysis of their responses to railway vibrations. The thresholds specified by the standard in any of the train speeds of up to 250 km/h were not exceeded. Nevertheless, propagation of vibrations induced by train passages and their effect on the structural response of buildings is a complex phenomenon. Without in situ measurements, it is hard to assess the impact of induced vibrations on buildings. As proven in the paper, a train moving on a track at various speeds does not uniformly make the vibration greater in each frequency band.