Experimental study on the closed-cell aluminum foam shock absorption layer of a high-speed railway tunnel

Abstract

The development of the “One Belt and One Road” strategy in China has resulted in the increased construction of high-speed railways in the country. Thus, the anti-seismic and shock absorption properties of a railway tunnel are very important when the high-speed railway crosses a seismic fault zone. Shock-absorbing materials currently used for tunnels have limited applications. Therefore, new shock-absorbing materials should be discovered. The closed-cell aluminum foam, which is a new shock-absorbing material, has not been applied for shock absorption in engineering. This study is the first to apply the closed-cell aluminum foam in designing a shock-absorbing layer for a high-speed railway tunnel. Closed-cell aluminum foam based on pure aluminum was used to design and manufacture the shock-absorbing layer for the tunnel lining. The feasibility of using closed-cell aluminum foam layer as damping design for tunnel lining was tested using a large-scale shaking table. Results showed that the closed-cell aluminum foam layer weakened the dynamic response of the tunnel lining. However, the shock absorption varied with the loading conditions.