Train-induced environmental vibrations by considering different building foundations along curved track

Abstract

Comparing with the straight track, the curved track accounts for a large proportion with the rapid development of metro networks. The train-induced horizontal vibrations, which can’t be ignored, are close to the vertical vibrations. The residents and the service of building structures adjacent to the curved subway lines are greatly affected by the train-induced horizontal vibrations and vertical vibrations. Meanwhile, subway lines inevitably pass through the sensitive areas which have the requirements for vibration control, and the effect of soil-structure interaction on vibration propagation from the ground to upper building structures are not clear so far. Thus, this paper presents a numerical method to study the vibration propagation laws in the ground soil and the effect of soil-structure interactions on building vibrations along a curved subway segment. The method consists of a train-track coupled model and a finite-infinite model. The train-track coupled model could obtain both vertical and horizontal forces of inner and outer wheel-rail, and they are the dynamic loads applying at the finite-infinite numerical model. Then, the numerical method is verified by comparing with the situ measurements, which have been performed along a curved track of Guangzhou metro. Finally, building with pile, raft, or strip foundations was modeled to study the impact of soil-structure interactions. The numerical results show that the horizontal and vertical vibrations along the curved track are larger than the corresponding vibrations induced by train operation on the straight track. The soil-structure interaction has a significant effect on vibration propagation both in the ground soil and from the ground soil into the upper building. A building with a pile foundation can alleviate the vibration of the upper structure, especially in high-frequency band.