Use of Sand-Rubber Mixture (SRM)-Filled Trenches for Pile Driving Induced Vibration Screening

Abstract

AbstractPile driving induced vibrations creates a huge concern for the construction industry since it may cause damage to the surrounding structures or settlement of the soil, depending on the intensity of ground shaking or vibration. It is essential to estimate the transmitted vibration intensity to avoid structural damages, which are highly dependent on the physical properties of the pile and the soil that acts as the transmitting medium. One widely adopted solution for the screening of pile-driving induced ground vibration is the use of infill trench in the path of wave propagation. The high damping and energy absorption capacity of rubber is well established in the past, making it an ideal material in vibration mitigation studies. In this paper, the use of sand-rubber mixture (SRM) as a trench infill material has been investigated to understand its effect on reducing the response of impact pile induced vibrations to adjacent structures. The SRM-filled trench barrier was provided as a passive isolation system, and field tests were conducted to evaluate its vibration screening performance under impact loading due to piling. The outputs from the analysis, in the form of acceleration-time history and Peak Particle Velocity (PPV), was obtained on either side of the trench with and without SRM infill. Overall, SRM was found to have a better performance with regards to the attenuation of surface waves. Further, a considerable reduction in peak acceleration and PPV was noted due to the introduction of SRM-filled trench barriers.KeywordsInfill trenchPile drivingSand-rubber mixture