Global Vibration Intensity Assessment Based on Vibration Source Localization on Construction Sites: Application to Vibratory Sheet Piling

Shiguang Wang,Songye Zhu

doi:10.3390/app12041946

Abstract

Various construction activities (such as piling) often generate high-intensity ground vibrations that adversely affect the surrounding environment. A common way of assessing vibration impact is to conduct on-site ground vibration monitoring at several selected locations. However, as vibration sources are often not pinpointed in the construction process, this approach cannot predict the vibration intensities at locations other than those monitored points. Therefore, the localization of vibration sources (e.g., vibratory sheet pile driving location) is crucial to quantify the corresponding vibration intensities in a broad area. This paper investigates a time-based source localization method based on wave propagation characteristics derived via three-dimensional finite element modeling of vibratory sheet pile driving in an infinite half-space soil domain. Satisfactory accuracy in the localization of the vibratory driving sources was achieved in all investigated numerical examples. Field validation tests were also conducted on a construction site with ongoing vibratory sheet pile driving work. A site-specific empirical formula was adopted to model the attenuation of measured vibration intensities with the increasing distance from the localized vibration source. As such, the combined utilization of the estimated vibration source location and the adopted empirical formula can achieve vibration intensity assessment in a broad surrounding area rather than being confined to a few monitored points.

Highlights

Construction activities such as pile driving frequently generate high-intensity ground vibrations that adversely affect surrounding environments
We explored the global vibration impact assessment using several selected monitoring points on construction sites
By investigating the features of ground-borne vibration propagation due to vibratory pile driving work, we developed a time-based localization method to localize vibratory driving sources on construction sites

Summary

Introduction

Construction activities such as pile driving frequently generate high-intensity ground vibrations that adversely affect surrounding environments. Numerous standards and specifications [1,2,3,4] define the allowable vibration limits of nearby objects, such as buried services, structures, people, and ultra-precision equipment. These limits are usually represented as peak particle velocity in the time domain or root mean square velocity in the frequency domain. Various prediction models of ground vibration intensities have been developed in the literature They can be categorized into three types, namely, empirical, theoretical, and engineering models [5]. Theoretical models are usually based on numerical and analytical modeling using various computer programs, in which complete dynamic responses of soil and/or structures during the process of common construction

Methods

Results

Conclusion