Building vibration measurements induced by train operation on concrete floor

Abstract

Buildings located near subway lines and railway lines are usually subject to train-induced vibrations. The rest and work of people in residential and office buildings, as well as the use of vibration-sensitive equipment in laboratories and precision manufacturing facilities are impacted by the vibrations. To explore the impact of train-induced vibration on over-track buildings, the measurements were conducted at Guangzhou Baiyun railway station, where the passenger and cargo trains operate on the concrete floor within the building. The vibration transmission law of the building height and the distance to the track was obtained. The vibrations induced by passenger and cargo trains were compared. It is found that the vertical vibration mainly attenuates with the increase of the distance from the source, while the horizontal vibration attenuates with different floors due to the propagation wave of vertical vibration in the floor slab and horizontal vibration in the column in terms of the bending wave. The vibrations caused by trains running on concrete floors decay more slowly than those caused by trains running on the soil. The results provide useful pre-construction vibration level estimation for designing similar buildings over the railway.