Ground-Borne Noise and Vibration in Buildings Caused by Rail Transit

Abstract

Ground vibration produced by rail transit systems can be annoying to nearby building occupants when they perceive some combination of feelable vibration, re-radiated sound, and vibration-induced rattling of household paraphernalia. Community response to rail-induced ground vibration has not been extensively researched. While the well-known Schultz dosage-response curve is routinely used to predict the prevalence of annoyance produced by airborne transportation noise, no similar relationship has gained widespread acceptance for noise and vibration due to ground vibration. The principal goal of the present research was to develop a dosage-response relationship useful for predicting community annoyance due to ground vibration produced by rail transit systems. This report documents the research conducted under the Transit Cooperative Research Program D-12 project, including a literature review, development of the study design, conduct of telephone interviews and vibration measurements, and data reduction and analyses. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1306 individuals in five North American cities: New York, Sacramento, Dallas, Toronto and Boston. Field measurements were made in each city to estimate vibration and noise exposure at each interview location. The work produced several dosage-response relationships between vibration/noise exposure and annoyance. When compared to the current noise and vibration criteria specified by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the dosage-response analysis predicted a probability of 0.05 to 0.10 that a D-12 respondent would be highly annoyed by vibration and noise at the current FTA criterion levels.